Persuasion
by hardly loquacious
Summary: A single choice can destroy a relationship. What do you do when life throws you back together with the one person you thought you'd never see again? Based loosely on Jane Austen's Persuasion, though the story stands on its own.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This story came about because of a number of reasons. For one, I have long believed that when it comes to Jane Austen, Lisbon is far more Persuasion than Pride and Prejudice (and I'd direct anyone who feels the need to question that statement to Overcoming Trust Issues, where I first make this claim). As it turns out, I am not alone in the fandom in my opinion. I never quite knew why until I was reading prompts for Summer Secret Santa at Jello Forever and saw gracevanpelt's request for a J/L version of Persuasion (though this one isn't an AU). For some reason or other the idea took root, and before I knew it I'd mapped out half of the story in my head. That's about when I realized how well it fit. This is what came of it. You don't have to have read the original Austen to read this. The only advantage you'll really have from reading the novel is that you'll know pretty much what will happen. Well, that and you can tell me how well I'm pulling off the adaptation I guess.

So this is dedicated to all those who, like me, think Lisbon would be Persuasion. I hope you, and everyone else who reads this, enjoys it.

Disclaimer: I own neither the Mentalist nor Persuasion.

Persuasion

xxxxx

Chapter 1

xxxxx

Special Agent Madeleine Hightower, Director of the CBI leaned back in her desk chair. It'd been a long day and she could feel the briefest hint of tiredness lurking in the back of her mind. So she did what she always did when that happened; she took a break. It might sound silly, but one of her favourite ways to relax was to skim over closed cases, either literally running through the files in her computer, or sometimes just mentally. She'd always loved order, solutions, justice. And she liked seeing the results of the people she supervised. She was the head of a major governmental organization; if she wanted to take a moment to enjoy the fruits of her labour nobody was going to stop her. Since she'd begun her tenure at the CBI she'd come up with a quite a few ways of improving the number of cases closed. In all honesty there had been a bit of a dip in their solve rate in the last year or so, but the numbers were still respectable, and the CBI's public image was certainly improving. And that had always been one of her primary goals.

Agent Hightower let her gaze slide to her door. Even if the letters on it read backwards from where she was sitting, she knew what they said, "Special Agent Hightower: Director." Seeing her name in print always gave her that little swell of pride. She'd cultivated the new and improved image of the CBI, and she was proud of her success. As California's premiere law enforcement agency, the CBI had to look the part. If the numbers were slipping a bit then something had to be done about it. Changes had to be made. She didn't like change; but she refused to let her hard-one image go. Besides, she liked to think that she'd always have a few tricks up her sleeve.

She wouldn't be getting rid of her agents though. Most of them were really good at what they did and the ones that weren't, well, they probably would probably be more trouble than it was worth to replace. Besides, she'd learned years ago that that threatening termination wasn't the way to go about getting what she wanted. Most of the agents at the CBI were decent, hardworking cops. Some were ambitious, some weren't, some preferred to lie low and let their work speak for themselves, and some didn't give the matter much thought. But very few of the team leaders cared one way or another about trying to push their cases or the CBI into the spotlight. Not the good ones at least. More interested in solving the case than their own careers. They dealt with the press, but to them it was more of a nuisance than anything. Hightower didn't discourage that type of attitude of course. The cases were paramount, but sometimes it was frustrating. If the CBI wanted to maintain its image as a paragon of law enforcement then they needed people who brought publicity one way or another, people who shared her vision.

Hightower grinned. That's where her changes came in. But she had to go slowly, didn't want to upset the boat too much this time. Wouldn't want to shake up the people who were getting the cases solved. Like she said, she liked and respected her people (albeit in an impersonal sort of way), even if she didn't always agree with them. Most of her team leaders were amazing agents on paper. Agents like Teresa Lisbon. The agent with the quiet fire still led the board in closed cases in the CBI. She could have moved up in the ranks if she'd really wanted to, but Agent Lisbon seemed perfectly content to stay on with serious crimes, and her people seemed happy to stay with her. Hightower was fine with that for now, even if it was perfectly obvious to all of her superiors that Agent Lisbon was destined for more. No, Hightower didn't want to fire Lisbon. Hadn't wanted to for years now. They'd reached an understanding after a few months working together. Driven, dedicated, loyal, and smart as whip, the woman was unbelievably good at her job, if a little too focussed on procedure from time to time. Agent Lisbon was one of the many agents who formed the backbone of the bureau. To be honest, Lisbon was often so predictably reliable that Hightower rarely gave the woman a second thought. In many ways Lisbon was most notable for her stubborn refusal to play up her cases with the press. Seemed to hate it in fact, the attitude a bit of a holdover from the previous administration.

And that was one of the things that had to change if the CBI was to get back to where it should be.

Hightower tossed a stress ball back and forth in her hands. There had to be some way to get the cases the SCU solved into the public eye. Then the added publicity would bring them more work, more prestige, maybe even more funding, and she'd have even more files to flip through when she was feeling stressed.

xxxxxx

Agent Teresa Lisbon sat in her office doing paperwork. Her team was between cases at the moment and she was taking the time to play catch up. Not that she was all that far behind. She'd been working with all of the members of her team for years now; they knew each other's ways. And three Agents didn't generally create that much hoopla anyway. Mostly run of the mill administrative stuff now. Paperwork for arrests, to hand evidence over to the correct parties, for lawyers, for the Director, the usual. There had been a time when things had been different, when after any given case her stack of paperwork was three times as high as it was currently.

But those days were long gone.

Lisbon ruthlessly pushed that stray thought out of her head, choosing instead to focus on the positive. Now she sometimes got to go home on time if she wanted to. Score one for following procedure. Procedure, patience and practicality. In the end that was what had protected her and her people. _All_ of her people. Even if they didn't always appreciate it, in the end most of them were still there. Lisbon allowed herself an affectionate smile at the thought of her team. Cho, her still stoic second in command, a man she could (almost) always trust explicitly. They'd been working together for literally years now, and they were finally getting to the point where Lisbon felt like that trust was reciprocated. And with Cho she never had to worry about an attempt at a hostile coup. The Asian Agent's ambition seemed to be limited solely to solving cases as many cases as quickly as possible and with as little fuss as necessary.

Then there were Agents Rigsby and Van Pelt. Lisbon still thought of them as a matched pair, couldn't help it. She was actually shocked that one of them hadn't requested a transfer to another team by now. They'd apparently agreed on friendship, but every so often she caught a longing look when they thought no one was looking. She was waiting (with a mixture of hope and dread) for the day when one of them finally snapped and threw the other up against a wall, kissing them senseless. With her luck it'd either happen in front of the director of the CBI or in front of an already irritable politician. Of course there were less irritable politicians now too...

Lisbon shook her head. She wasn't sure what was wrong with her today. Even though the romantic in her (the one that she mostly tried to keep buried) wanted to see her colleagues happy, another part of her selfishly hoped that they stayed as dedicated to their jobs as they currently seemed to be. They were both good agents. Rigsby, their resident arson expert, was strong and dependable, and someone she could always call on in a crisis. Van Pelt was eager to please, nurturing and fair. Plus she seemed to have unlimited reserves of potential. At least once every couple of months the younger agent'd do something that surprised her boss, whether it was navigating traffic in a high speed chase or expert marksmanship with a bow and arrow. Really the only thing that might hold Van Pelt back was that she was still somehow incredibly trusting, and occasionally more than a little naive. Lisbon occasionally worried about people taking advantage of her, her and Rigsby both actually; the male agent was unbelievably susceptible to a pretty face in trouble.

Still, as a team they worked well together.

Lisbon rolled her neck as she flipped through a file. It was just after noon so if she was lucky, even with the budget meeting she had to go to she should be able to finish her paperwork at a decent hour. She'd barely even finished the thought when she heard a knock on the door.

"Boss?" Van Pelt asked, sticking her head inside.

"Hey," Lisbon replied with a smile. "Didn't know you were still here. Come on in."

"Yeah, I was just finishing up some stuff from the last case," Van Pelt replied with a half a grin of her own.

Though the redhead had walked into the office confidently enough Lisbon couldn't help noticing that her fingers were worrying around the edges of the file she was holding. "Something wrong Van Pelt?" she asked.

"No," her agent told her immediately. "Well, you heard about the deaths down in Monterey?"

"Two lawyers at a law firm?" Lisbon asked. "Yeah, I heard about it on the way in this morning."

"Yeah," Van Pelt nodded. "I know this isn't usually the way this works, but I got a call from a friend of mine. She just made sheriff down there, literally just. I don't know if she's been on the job six months..."

"And something big happened," Lisbon surmised.

Van Pelt nodded before handing her the file in her hands. "Two partners at a local law firm were found dead in their office building late last night by one of their secretaries. The autopsies are still pending, so they haven't officially been ruled murder yet, but they're suspicious. For one, the lock on one of the back doors looks like it was forced, for another, the third partner's unreachable. Now it could just be coincidence..."

"Two partners dead and the third one's missing? Add to that a possible break in and it sure doesn't sound like a coincidence to me," Lisbon remarked.

Van Pelt let out a soft sigh of relief, "Yeah. That's what she thought too. Still, there aren't any obvious suspects besides the missing partner. The practice doesn't deal with criminal cases, mainly pretty run of the mill stuff, a bit of property law, the odd divorce, pre-nups, a bit of everything really. But some of the clientele's pretty high profile. A couple of congressmen, businessmen who have summer homes nearby, and even though nothing obvious is missing, no one's 100% sure that none of the information's been compromised..."

"So it could be a political nightmare on top of two potential murders," Lisbon added.

"Yeah," Van Pelt said with a nod. "I know it's not how cases come to us, but Lou's pretty overwhelmed, and she knows where I work, so she gave me a call and I was hoping that since we didn't have a case at the moment..." the woman trailed off hopefully.

Lisbon sent her a grin. "Leave the file and get me her number. It'll be a CBI case before I leave for the night."

Van Pelt's grin answered hers. "Number's on the next page," she told her.

Lisbon flipped the page with an absent nod. "Wait, one victim was found at the bottom of the stairs, the other was found lying in bed upstairs?"

Van Pelt shrugged, "Apparently they sleep at work sometimes. Given the hours we work sometimes I can certainly understand the appeal. And where the bodies were found makes accidental death a possibility. It's why we're waiting on full autopsies to determine if anyone's been murdered at all."

"Still, we should still check it out. The potential PR disaster alone'll make it easy to get Hightower on board," Lisbon remarked dryly.

"Thanks boss," Van Pelt replied with a knowing smirk.

Lisbon just waved her off. "Not a problem."

"Still I appreciate it, and I know Lou will too. I'll be out there if you need me," Van Pelt told her as she left the office.

But Lisbon was too engrossed in the file Van Pelt had given her to reply. It was definitely murder, maybe not both bodies, but she wouldn't have been surprised. She wasn't sure how she knew exactly, she just did. She also knew the case wasn't going to be a simple one, which meant she should probably get started immediately. She picked up the phone and dialled a familiar extension.

Lisbon hung up her phone thoughtfully. Hightower'd been relatively easy to convince. Her boss's only stipulation was that they wait until the next morning to head out. Lisbon knew her boss was worried that the team would arrive on the scene only to hear from the coroner that neither death was a murder. She also knew her boss didn't want her to miss the budget meeting that'd been scheduled for almost a month.

Lisbon sighed. She supposed the case could wait until morning. It was already midway through the afternoon. They were holding the crime scene for them, and there probably wasn't that much they could've been doing that evening anyway. Third partner still hadn't turned up, and the autopsy results probably wouldn't be complete by then either.

With a weary groan Lisbon got out of her chair. She was almost disappointed the crime wasn't more urgent. This meeting promised to be unbearably dull.

xxxxx

Lisbon almost ran from the conference room the second the meeting closed. Dull had turned out to be an understatement. Not bringing a caffeinated beverage into the room with her had proven to be a poor decision. To top it off, now, thanks to a new budget initiative, she had a new mini mountain of paperwork to get through before the team left first thing in the morning. So much for an early night.

As she approached her office Lisbon's pace slowed ever so slightly. There appeared to be a commotion of sorts coming from the bullpen. What on earth was going on? As she got nearer she saw her boss rounding the corner. "She should be along any minute now," Hightower was telling someone in the other room. "I'll go see what's keeping her." Then Hightower noticed Lisbon herself and began walking towards her. "Ah, Agent Lisbon! Perfect timing!" she exclaimed with a smile.

"Ma'am?" Lisbon asked politely.

"Good news. It seems the case in Monterey has made the news and is already garnering considerable interest from both the press and the politicians."

"Umm..." Lisbon started to reply. She couldn't really see how either of those things were good news, but she'd long ago stopped trying to understand her boss' position on things like that.

"And, because of the public interest," Hightower added, obviously unconcerned by Lisbon's lack of enthusiasm, "It seems one of California's finest freelance consultants has offered his services, which can only mean more publicity for us!"

Lisbon's blood froze in her veins at that. "Who?" she asked quietly, her face turning white.

If Hightower noticed her discomfort she didn't show it. "I believe you know him already," she said with a wide smile. The Director opened her mouth to continue when she was interrupted by an all too familiar voice.

"Hello Teresa."

Lisbon turned to the man standing just behind her boss. "Jane," she said summoning up a smile. And there he was, perfect hair, a new flashy suit though this one still featured the ever-present vest, and of course, still stupidly handsome.

"This won't be a problem will it?" Hightower asked sweetly, in a tone that Lisbon knew meant the question was really just a formality. Madeleine Hightower'd always made her position on Jane's methods of solving crimes abundantly clear, with one notable exception.

Lisbon glanced at her team loitering just behind her ex-consultant, their faces a mixture of pleasure and apprehension. But she'd had a second to compose herself now, she turned to her boss, "Of course not," she said, her smile fake, but it convinced Hightower. In fact the only who wouldn't be convinced was the one person she cared the least about fooling. Lisbon didn't care what he thought. That's what she was telling herself at least.

"Good!" Hightower said, clapping her hands together. "Then I'll leave you two to get reacquainted. You will keep me informed about your progress won't you Agent?"

"Of course Ma'am," Lisbon replied. Great. Just what she needed. The return of the one man she thought she'd never see again plus her boss looking over her shoulder.

Lisbon turned back to her consultant, ex-consultant that is. She managed to send him a slightly more genuine smile. Maybe by the end of the case she'd actually mean it. "So, Patrick Jane. It's been a while."

"Yes it has," he replied readily, his eyes scanning her face.

Lisbon ignored the scrutiny. "It's been what, a year?" she asked.

"Almost exactly," Jane confirmed. "This case is almost like an anniversary party," he added his smile containing just the slightest hint of insincerity.

But then so did the smile she sent him in return. Then she took a breath and decided to try again. "You look good," she told him softly.

His lip twitched. "Thanks," he told her. "You've changed your hair," he observed. "It's different."

Lisbon's smile tightened but she decided to just ignore the subtle insult. She'd had to be the bigger person for most of their relationship anyway. She deliberately loosened her smile. "So, this is a surprise," she told him. "You're the last person I was expecting to see today."

Jane sent her a slightly predatory smile then, "Well, you know how it is. It seems that after all my time helping law enforcement I've gotten a bit of a taste for it, and now that I can choose my own cases, well, I choose the ones that interest me. As soon as I heard about our two dead lawyers on the news I knew I wanted in. Come on Lisbon, possible murder, someone broke in, but nothing's missing, mysterious disappearance. Even you must admit it sounds almost fun. But when I called the local sheriff to offer my services I promptly informed that the investigation had already been turned over to the CBI. Lou, as she insisted I call her, seemed quite sure that you'd be only too happy to take advantage of my offered assistance though, and Agent Hightower agrees. So here I am. I'm sorry that I blindsided you though. I did drop by your office first, but you were in a meeting."

He looked contrite, but Lisbon knew him too well. She knew that Patrick Jane was only too pleased that his appearance in her workplace had shocked her. He'd always loved knocking her off balance, and she had a feeling the compulsion to do it had only gotten worse after they'd gone their separate ways. He'd consider it a sort of payback. Still, she decided it was easier if she pretended to believe him. "These things happen," she told him with a shrug. "Still, I'm happy to see you Jane. Freelancing seems to agree with you."

Jane just continued to smile that inane grin of his, "Well, the money's better in the private sector for sure," he told her.

"That's true," Lisbon said dryly.

"But, it is interesting being back here," Jane told her. "I see the gang's still all here."

Throughout their exchange her entire team had been waiting anxiously, in case of the potential blowout. "Yeah, we were just catching up," Rigsby told his boss. "Jane's been telling us stories."

Lisbon managed another smile in reply. She could imagine.

"Anyway," Rigsby said with a cough, "We were just about to go and grab some dinner if you want to come with."

Lisbon let her face slide into a regretful expression, this one half-genuine. "Sorry, I can't," she told them. "I just got a mountain of work to get done before we leave thanks to this afternoon's never-ending budget meeting. I'll have to take a rain check. You guys go though," she insisted. When Van Pelt looked concerned, she waved them off. "Seriously guys, go. I'll see you bright and early in the morning." Then she turned to Jane, "I assume you're going to drive with us?"

He nodded absently at her question as he searched her face "Still the same old Lisbon I see," Jane said with half a smile. But it sounded more like an accusation than a compliment, though no one but her seemed to notice. "The lack of procedure and paperwork's another advantage of the private sector," he added absently.

She ignored him, "See you guys tomorrow then." It was meant as a dismissal and they all knew it.

She was answered by a chorus of "Night boss." Only Jane's good-bye was any different. "See you tomorrow Teresa. I'm sure it'll be interesting," he told her. "And enjoy your memos."

With that he turned to her team, his smile suddenly genuine. Lisbon watched the laughing group down the hallway. She didn't begrudge her team their happiness at the unexpected reunion. It made sense.

He'd never been mad at _them_.

xxxxx

TBC

Hee. I thought I'd have a bit of fun with this one and try cliff-hangers. Not sure if this one even counts, but whatever. I promise the details get explained in the next chapter. But the explanation gets lengthy so I thought I'd break it up a bit, because I've also decided to try not to make all the chapters insanely long. Yeah, we'll see how that goes too.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks to everybody who reviewed Chapter 1! Not gonna lie, I'm having an absolute blast writing this, so I'm glad people are enjoying it. Also, because the order of people's Austen preferences seems to be coming up a lot in the reviews (to my great delight by the way, I can quite happily yammer on about Austen endlessly), Pride and Prejudice is my own favourite Austen novel. Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility are pretty much in a continuous fight for the number two spot. I think Persuasion is probably the better book overall, but my love of Elinor Dashwood knows no bounds which makes Sense and Sensibility quite the contender.

I promised in the last chapter to explain in part what happened, so here we go. It's backstory time! I should also warn you that I do deviate from the original novel in some of the details because it is an adaptation and I think it works better (and I dropped a couple mini sub-plots because seriously, not actually out to write a novel here). I am however hoping that I'm still right in spirit. Enjoy.

xxxxx

Chapter 2

xxxxx

Lisbon waited until her team (plus one unexpected companion) was out of sight before walking into her office and sinking down into her desk chair, head in her hands.

Patrick Jane.

She hadn't been expecting that. She'd always known there was a chance she'd see him again. She didn't know why it was such a surprise; the new direction of his career meant that he was mentioned on some of the local news stations reasonably frequently. She certainly had the misfortune of hearing his name more than she'd liked. She should have been prepared for an inevitable meeting, but for some reason she'd always expected to have more warning.

It was still too new. She couldn't deal with it right now, so she did what she always did; she buried herself in her work. And as it happened thanks to her hateful meeting she not only had an excuse to be alone to collect her thoughts, but she also had a handy stack of financial reports to complete.

With that she pushed all thoughts of Jane aside and turned her mind to case-related expenses.

It was several hours later when she finally closed the last file and leaned back in her chair. No distractions now. She almost wished for more paperwork.

Almost.

She wondered if her office needed tidying. There had to be something in the room that could occupy her brain.

As if answering her call, her phone rang.

"I should have known you'd still be at the office," a voice on the other end said.

"Sir," she greeted in pleased surprise.

"Lisbon, I'm not your boss anymore remember?" Minelli reminded her indulgently. "You don't have to call me sir."

"Old habits," she replied easily. "And somehow Virgil just doesn't seem to roll off the tongue."

She heard his answering chuckle. "So how are you?" he asked.

"Fine, you know, the usual," she told him evasively.

"No new cases?" Minelli pressed. "Nothing at all out of the ordinary?"

Lisbon sighed. She should have known. "You heard."

"I may be retired, but I keep my ear to the ground, especially where my favourite ex-employee's concerned," he replied. "So it's true then? He's back?"

"He's back," Lisbon confirmed.

"Teresa..." Minelli started.

But she really didn't want to have this conversation, "I'm fine," she cut him off.

"Are you?" Minelli asked. "After what happened, I know you two were close and then, well..."

"Exactly," Lisbon told him firmly. "We _were_ close. We're not any more. I'll admit it was a bit of a shock to see him, and there were a couple of awkward moments, but we'll be fine. My Jane-wrangling skills are a bit rusty, but I'm sure they'll come back reasonably quickly."

"Just like riding a bike?" Minelli suggested sarcastically.

"Exactly," Lisbon replied, deciding to ignore her boss' tone.

"How was he?" Minelli asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

Lisbon shrugged though her companion couldn't see it. "He's, he's Jane. It's hard to say really. He looked good if that's what you're asking."

"It's not," Minelli sighed.

Lisbon nodded, "I think he's still a little pissed off, but that's his problem."

"You made the right decision," her mentor told her softly.

"I know," she replied tiredly.

"Really, Lisbon," Minelli insisted. "There was no other choice."

"There was," she told him. "I just didn't take it."

"Teresa," he started.

"I don't regret my decision," she interrupted. "Not really. It's just... sometimes I wish, well, I wish that I didn't have to make it."

Minelli paused, before adding in a gentler tone. "You did what you had to do. What you were trained to do. It was the only sensible thing under the circumstances. Everybody knows it but that lunatic. He could have gone off on his own suicide mission and gotten himself, and possibly somebody else killed." The fact that the somebody else in question would have most likely been Lisbon herself remained unsaid.

"I know," Lisbon replied quietly. "But sometimes, sometimes I don't know... What if he really had changed?"

"He may have changed," Minelli allowed. "But had he changed enough? Were you that sure you could trust him? With Red John? Even _you_ couldn't control him when the serial killer popped up again. I may not have seen him personally in the later cases, but I saw him after Bosco, I saw him with Rebecca. He couldn't have possibly expected you to take that risk." Though Virgil knew what the decision had cost her he refused to feel guilty about helping to convince her to deliberately leave Jane in the dark in this particular instance. Minelli knew he'd never feel guilty about doing everything in his power to stop Jane from dragging her out on what the retired agent was absolutely convinced (regardless of her opinion on the matter) would have been little more than a suicide mission.

Lisbon didn't reply. Logically it had been the right decision, and she hadn't lied when she told Minelli she didn't regret it. But even a year later her actions still felt somehow wrong, like there should have been another option.

"Okay," Minelli added when he realized she wasn't about to say anything else on the subject. "We won't talk about it. But you know you can call me, whenever you need."

"Thanks boss," she said softly.

"Teresa," he said in warning.

"What?" she asked innocently. "You told me not to call you sir."

He laughed then, knowing she needed it, "Good night Teresa. Go home; get some rest. Good luck on your case tomorrow."

"Thanks," she told him as she hung up.

She sighed and prepared to leave for the day. Jane was really back. No excuse to avoid the issue now, especially since Minelli'd brought it to the forefront. She'd worked with the blond-haired menace for years, and she'd worked with him closely. He'd been her madcap consultant that no one else would tolerate, but who she'd put up with him for any number of reasons. Firstly because he closed cases, secondly it was because she had pitied him. Or maybe not pitied; he'd hate that word. She'd _empathized_ with him. She'd wanted to help him catch his family's killer, though she'd always had a more _legal_ viewpoint on the situation. Then, somewhere along the way, she'd grown to like him.

The man could be quite possibly the most irritating person she'd ever met, but then, every so often he could also be incredibly sweet. And Jane had tried to be her friend. He really had. He hadn't always succeeded, but the attempt had meant something to her. Possibly more than it should have. She wasn't used to having people try so deliberately to brighten her day.

They had been friends too. True friends.

First it'd just been coffee in her office after hours, then one day the coffee machine in the office had broken (something part of her had always suspected was his doing), so they'd moved their routine for winding down to a coffee shop down the street. Not too long after that he started showing up at her apartment for movies, or to make her dinner because for some reason he seemed convinced she couldn't feed herself. Then he was lending her books, and calling her to chat at random times. And she found herself more relaxed around him. She opened up. Had even told him about her brothers one evening, and he hadn't teased or held it over her head, not once. He still pulled idiotic stunts on the job, but he actually told her about a few of them from time to time. And her opinion of his actions seemed to matter. He seemed to be relaxing too. She'd been pleased, let herself believe that Patrick Jane had finally been taking steps back towards the land of the living. One day she'd realized that his friendship was one of the more important in her life.

That was all it'd ever been though, friendship. It couldn't be more. Not with Red John still in the picture.

Red John. Lisbon couldn't repress the slight involuntary shiver that the name still provoked. Friendship or no, Jane had always hunted the serial killer with a single-mindedness that was frightening. Lisbon had tried to help him as far as she was able, but the potential consequences frightened her. She'd always insisted on trust in their working relationship, and Jane had been only too happy to tell her of his plans for his nemesis. Somehow the image had gotten planted in her brain.

She'd woken up in a cold sweat more than once, trying to banish visions of Jane holding a bloody knife, standing over an almost unrecognizable corpse, smiling like a madman.

Lisbon had promised herself over and over again that it wouldn't happen.

So when one of the undercover units of the CBI started piecing information about the serial killer she'd insisted on being kept in on their monitoring efforts, strictly confidential though.

Working with Jane all those years had given her a poker face so good that he hadn't even realized. She could lie when it mattered. Or maybe he'd just stopped looking for deception in her, trusting her enough to keep him in the loop.

That had been his mistake.

Still, when she'd received reliable intel she had paused, really she had. She'd almost considered letting him on the plan. But in the end she'd decided it was far too risky. Jane went nuts any time Red John was even tangentially related to anything. Even Hightower, normally Jane's biggest fan, had supported the decision not to get him informed. Still Lisbon had waivered. It had taken more than one late night conversation over whiskey with her former boss, and the man whose opinion she actually valued, before she'd allowed herself to commit to the idea.

It was for Jane's own good. If she'd told him about the plan he'd almost certainly have rushed in and gotten himself killed. This way he'd still be alive to appreciate his closure. Even if deep down, it'd still felt wrong.

So that night the Serious Crimes Unit backed up by the undercover agents and a full SWAT team had moved in on Red John minus one consultant. In all honesty Lisbon couldn't remember all the details anymore, though she was sure they were in her report. Red John had realized what was happening about a minute too early, putting their undercover man at serious risk. There'd been no choice but to order SWAT to take the shot.

She does remember the faces of her team when they saw the body, the identical expressions of equal parts relief and dread. Lisbon had known they were all only too happy that she was the one whose responsibility it was to tell Jane what had happened.

She also remembers trying to tell herself that he wouldn't be all that upset. Oh, it'd be a _shock_ of course, no doubt about it. But he'd understand. And Red John was dead, that should have been all that mattered right?

As self-delusions go that one had been her most spectacular.

She remembers showing up at his apartment that evening. He'd been surprised to see her, surprised and originally pleased. He'd wanted her to try some new recipe or other that he'd found.

Then she'd stepped further into his apartment and he'd gotten a good look at her face.

"Lisbon?" he'd asked softly.

"We need to talk," she'd told him firmly.

Nodding he'd led her to his den. She'd taken a seat across from him only to stare at her hands for a full minute. She swore she could feel the anxiety rolling off of him.

"Lisbon," he'd repeated. "What is it? Whatever it is, you can tell me. We'll figure it out. Hey, I helped you beat a murder charge remember? Can't be much worse than that," he'd said, trying to put her at ease.

Lisbon sent him an almost painful smile, before she took a breath. It was now or never. "Jane, Red John's dead." She'd known it was blunt, but what else was there to say at that point? It'd all come out eventually anyway.

The effect had been immediate. All the colour drained from his face. He stood abruptly before sitting back down again. "You're sure?" he'd asked, his voice hollow.

"Very," she'd told him. "One of the undercover units has been catching snatches of information about him for a while now. They moved in tonight. He caught on, went for one of the agents, got shot in the head by a sniper," she'd summarized quickly.

"He's... he's dead," Jane had repeated.

"Yes," Lisbon confirmed. She'd moved to put a hand on his arm, but he had jerked away. Lisbon tried not to let it hurt her.

"I don't know... I can't..." Jane had started to say.

"It's over Jane," Lisbon had said softly. "He can't hurt anyone else. We got him."

Jane shook his head, "No," he'd insisted. "I was supposed to... I needed... my family..."

"You were never supposed to become a killer Jane," Lisbon corrected.

He looked at her then, and her breath caught in her throat when she realized his eyes were almost manic. "I was!" he'd whispered angrily. "They were _my family._ I was supposed to protect them! It was my job to catch him. _I _wanted to be the one to kill him and I wanted to watch as the blood left his body. And I was going to _enjoy_ it. It was all I had left. What am I going to do now?"

Still, Lisbon had tried to soothe him, "Whatever you want," she'd promised. "You can do whatever you want. You're free now, don't you see? You're welcome to stay at the CBI if you like, or you can try something else. Take a tropical vacation, go to Europe. You're not tied down by this anymore. Isn't that what your family would want?"

"Don't talk to me about my family!" Jane had snapped. "What would you know about..." then he'd paused, watching her. "How did you know?" he'd asked suddenly, the wheels in his head finally beginning to turn again.

"How did I know what?" Lisbon'd whispered, her heart thudding in her chest.

"How did you know that Red John was dead?" Jane had asked again, the anger around him palpable.

Lisbon took a breath and met his eyes. "I was there," she'd told him simply.

"You were there?" Jane repeated his voice cold.

"Yes." Short, to the point, truthful. After everything he'd deserved that.

"Who else?" he'd asked immediately.

"Me, the team, the undercover unit, and a SWAT team," she'd replied.

She watched helplessly as his eyes turned cold and he shut down. "I see," he'd told her quietly.

"Jane..." she'd said softly. "Let me explain."

"Explain what?" he'd asked, his voice sarcastic. "The funny coincidence that allowed Red John to show up right where two teams of CBI agents and a SWAT team happened to be waiting. He must have been surprised."

"Jane..."

"But then, in this case I actually understand how he feels," Jane had admitted disgustedly.

"Jane..."

"On the other hand, none of this is a surprise to _you_ is it _Teresa._" He'd asked coldy furious..

"Patrick..." Lisbon had tried desperately. She'd needed to explain.

"Oh, it's Patrick now is it? Tell me, how long have you known? How long have you been planning this? A week? A month? Two months? Three?" His grin had turned bitter when she'd flinched. "Oh _Teresa_," he'd said scathingly. "Three months. I should be impressed; I didn't suspect a thing. But then why would I? You were always the one who insisted that we needed to trust each other to do this job. Why should _I_ have expected a betrayal from _you_? Of all the people on the planet... Tell me, did it even cross your mind that you could bring me in to this?"

"It was felt that would be too dangerous, given your past with Red John," she'd told him truthfully. She'd known she'd owed him that at least.

"It was felt?" Jane repeated. "_It was felt?_ By who exactly? Was it your decision Lisbon? Or was it Hightower? Or maybe someone else entirely? Which one of your bosses, your _friends_ convinced you?"

"Jane everyone who knows you, who's ever worked with you knows how you feel about Red John..." Lisbon had told him, trying to keep her composure, trying to make him _see._

"So the team as well then?" he'd suggested.

"Does it matter?" she'd shot back. "They weren't happy about it, none of us were. But they understood why Jane."

"Of course they did." Jane had replied. "They'd follow you through hell and back. And I bet even Hightower was thrilled by the decision."

"Well after that stunt you pulled that got you kidnapped and almost killed can you blame her?" Lisbon had asked him.

"Ah yes, Special Agent Hightower wouldn't want anything happening to the company resources," Jane had remarked ironically. "Bet you were only too happy to toe that particular line when she asked."

"She's my boss Jane," Lisbon had replied tiredly. Deep down she'd known this was an argument she'd never win. "Do I always agree with her? Of course not. Sometimes I don't, but it's my job and she deserves my respect as my superior. Besides, I happened to agree with her this time. This was my decision. If I'd really thought she was wrong, I'd have... Well, I don't know what I'd have done, but I'd have done something. But let's face it, every supervisor you've ever had is terrified of how you get when Red John's involved. You used to scare the crap out of Minelli on a regular basis."

"Minelli," Jane said musing. "You still see him don't you? Dinner every other week is it? Despite his retirement he's still concerned about the goings on at the CBI isn't he?"

"Jane..." she remembered trying to cut off his tirade.

"Yes, not officially part of the CBI family, but concerned all the same." Jane had continued as if she hadn't spoken. "And almost a bit of a father figure for one lovely female agent, no? You always were a bit of a favourite weren't you? Even if you never got any special treatment to speak of. He always was protective. Oh, Virgil'd do absolutely anything he could to protect you. Especially if it meant getting you away from your own dangerously unstable consultant. That way he wouldn't have to worry quite so much. After all, you are like a daughter to him; everyone knows it."

"It wasn't me we were trying to protect it was you, you idiot!" she'd snapped at him then.

"Well, me and everyone else around," Jane had clarified. "After all, if I'm as unstable as you're making me out to be I wouldn't have been a just a danger to myself but to everyone else around me," Jane had pointed out logically. "Agent Lisbon certainly couldn't let anyone else get hurt because of my foolhardiness."

"And you could?" she'd asked, her irritation beginning to surface.

"Ah so you do think I'm foolhardy," Jane had concluded.

"Dammit Jane, that isn't what I meant and you know it. Would you want anyone else getting hurt?"

"How can you ask me that Lisbon?" he'd asked furiously. "You of all people know how much I... how much Red John... All I wanted was to kill him to prevent another murder. After my family... I thought you _understood_. _I trusted you_." He looked at her again. "I really trusted you," he'd repeated, sounding genuinely shocked and hurt. "You were always telling me that we had to trust each other. And fool that I am I believed you. Guess I was wrong."

"Jane..." she'd said desperately. She could see the pain in his eyes now, the betrayal. And that was somehow worse than all the accusations he'd been hurling her way all night.

"No, I understand perfectly _Agent Lisbon_. I'm a liability. Always have been. I tried to play by your rules, but you never believed me, so I guess it doesn't count. Didn't you say once you knew I'd get you fired one day? Well it's not something you'll have to worry about any more."

"Jane..." she'd tried one final time.

But he hadn't heard her. He'd stormed out of the room. A few minutes later she heard the bedroom door slam. She hadn't known what else to say. So she'd just left his apartment. And he was gone the next day.

Still, she didn't regret the decision. She'd probably always regret that she'd had to make it. But Lisbon still felt that she couldn't have done otherwise. Minelli was right; she couldn't risk the potential collateral damage. Who knows, Jane or someone else could have been killed in the confusion of an unplanned confrontation and Red John might have escaped. Catching a serial killer like him required careful planning.

She couldn't have looked the other way, not even for Jane. It wasn't who she was. She was a protector; she tried to help people, to take care of them. She couldn't help it. She wasn't in it for the glory or the power, she just did her job. Quietly, efficiently, every day she did her best. Lisbon didn't put herself forward and she definitely didn't make rash decisions. Everything was planned, the pros and cons perfectly balanced for each decision. Painful as her decision had been, she refused to believe that at the time she'd been _wrong_.

And if the result of the decision to keep Jane as far away from Red John as possible was that he got to live his life free of the spectre of a psychopath, then no, she couldn't really have any regrets, even if it meant their own relationship was destroyed.

Still, a year later she'd by lying if she didn't wish for a slightly different outcome.

xxxxx

Jane waved his ex-colleagues into their cars as they left the restaurant. It had been good seeing them again. He'd missed them, missed having a team, missed having some consistency in his life. It may have paid better, but freelancing was sometimes a bit lonely. And all of his former colleagues were good people. A year later they'd been able to pick up basically where they'd left off. It was nice, just like old times.

Well, almost.

It could never be exactly like old times. She hadn't been there.

And even if she was there next time it could never be like old times again. He'd thought the year might have given him a bit of distance, maybe some perspective, but a large part of him was still angry with her. He supposed she'd only been doing what she thought was right, but she hadn't even bothered to talk to him about it! He remembered the last time she'd showed up at his apartment like it was yesterday, when she'd flat out told him that she'd known where Red John was but deliberately kept it from him. Part of him still wished she'd just _lied_. She was clearly pretty good at it.

He remembered the moment when he realized what she'd done, the degree to which she'd lied to him. For a minute he almost couldn't breathe. Then a moment later as he heard her try to explain everything had just solidified in his brain. It'd become crystal clear to him that Lisbon had never really trusted him. He'd known they'd had issues in the past, but he'd thought they were moving past it. He'd honestly thought he was making progress. But it'd all been a lie.

And that had been what pretty much broke him.

Jane had thought they were on the way to reaching an understanding of sorts. He'd been trying to live by her rules. Hadn't quite come around when it came to Red John, but he'd been considering it. He still didn't agree with her opinion, but... But Teresa Lisbon had come to mean a great deal to him. She'd become the dominant personality in his life, bar none. He'd begun to feel more than he'd ever expected to feel again. He'd even begun wondering if there could be a life post-Red John. But all that changed when he saw her face, saw the guilt so plainly displayed. He'd always been able to read her. Well, almost always. And it had hurt that she'd obviously never even though to try talking to him about it, how easily she'd been persuaded by everyone around her that he would always be the same unpredictable, _dangerous_, man he'd always been when Red John was around. That he'd ever have treated _her_ life that lightly. He'd trusted her, but in the end she'd never really reciprocated. It was the overwhelming feeling of betrayal that sent him to the hills.

He'd just cut all ties. And he'd desperately needed to be doing something, something away from her. So he'd become a freelance consultant. Why not? He clearly had an aptitude for that sort of thing, and this way he got to have all the fun with a fraction of the rules.

Then the new (and wonderfully strange) case in Monterey brought them back together.

He didn't know what he'd been expecting, why he'd thought that she'd somehow have been frozen in time in the year he was gone. When he'd seen her again in the hall at first all he'd noticed was that her hair was different. He'd missed the bangs. He'd missed the way her eyes had twinkled out at him beneath them.

But her eyes hadn't been twinkling at all. In fact the old wall that had existed between them in their first months of working together was back up with a vengeance. He'd thought he'd seen a hint of a reaction in her eyes more than once, but it was momentary at best, then gone. In fact, during their brief conversation the only thing he could tell she'd felt with any degree of certainty was shock.

Apparently Teresa Lisbon didn't care one way or another that he was back.

Well that was good. Because he certainly wasn't looking for a renewal of their friendship either. Patrick Jane had moved on. She'd done what she'd thought was right, now it was his turn. He'd show Teresa Lisbon just how little her presence affected him. He'd put the betrayal behind him; now they could move on to a strictly professional relationship. Which was probably what she'd always wanted anyway.

Well, Agent Lisbon, Jane thought to himself, bring it on.

xxxxx

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far! Especially to the anonymous reviewers who I can't thank individually. It's appreciated. Alright, time for the case. I'm beginning to wonder why on earth I decided on something with quite so many characters in it. And I'm terrible at coming up at names, so forgive me the generic names of all the case-related characters. None of them are going to be particularly imaginative.

xxxxx

Chapter 3

xxxxx

As requested, the entire group gathered bright and early the next morning for the drive. Lisbon was admittedly feeling a little apprehensive about the whole thing, but she hid it well. For his part Jane seemed determined to be decidedly civil to her, if a bit cool. Still, she appreciated the effort. It could have been much, much worse. The evening before she'd decided that if he wanted to move their relationship past the anger into something more passively professional then she certainly wasn't going to be the one to put up any roadblocks.

Even so, it came as something as a surprise when Jane skilfully manoeuvred himself in to the SUV Cho was driving, leaving Rigsby and Van Pelt with Lisbon. He certainly did it subtly; she wasn't even sure anyone else noticed, but the move had definitely been deliberate. Lisbon told herself as she buckled her seatbelt that it was probably for the best. A couple of hours in a car alone with Patrick Jane, perfectly polite or not, had the potential to be unbearably awkward. So what if in the past he'd almost always ridden in her car? That relationship was done. She would have been pleased that he was taking steps to minimize awkwardness and anger if it hadn't felt like such an obvious snub. She knew that she'd basically destroyed their friendship, but the idea that he couldn't stand to be alone in her company for any length of time stung a bit, no matter how responsible his intentions.

Well, she guessed she'd just have to learn to get used to it. From the sounds of it the case was going to be tricky enough. She couldn't afford to get into it with Jane. Besides, she practically had a degree in hiding her feelings and maintaining a professional mask. If he could do it then so could she.

This case could be a good thing, for both of them. A chance for them to clear the air a bit.

As Lisbon pulled out of the driveway she noticed that both of her companions looked a bit uncomfortable. She knew it was early in the morning, but it wasn't _that_ early. She sighed. She'd never told her team all of the details of what'd happened between Jane and herself, but given that he'd left immediately after Red John's death the basic course of events was pretty easy to fill in. While she knew none of her team blamed either her or Jane, both of her agents obviously felt a bit like they were being forced to choose sides. Apparently it wasn't only Jane that she needed to clear the air with.

"So, how was dinner last night?" she asked brightly.

Both Rigsby and Van Pelt started slightly at the question. Lisbon had to hide a smile. It seemed her instincts were still as good as ever, Jane or no Jane.

Van Pelt found her voice first. "Um, fine. Why?" she asked, attempting to sound nonchalant.

Lisbon sighed, "Look guys, it's fine. Don't worry about it. Jane's back. I don't know if you've noticed but he's going to be working with us for at least a couple of days. I'm fine with it and Jane seems to be fine with it too. You don't need to tiptoe around the subject for my sake. I know you guys are friends and I think that's great. You don't need to feel awkward. In fact, I would actually prefer it if you just acted normally. Yes, Jane and I had a falling out, but we're all professionals here. So instead of sitting in awkward silence for the entire drive can we please just talk to each other like normal people?"

Rigsby looked a bit dubious at best, but Van Pelt let out a sigh of relief and sent Lisbon a smile. "Dinner was good. We went for Italian, you know, that little place a few streets down from the CBI?"

"Oh yeah," Lisbon said, trying to keep the conversation going. "They have the best garlic bread."

"They really do," Van Pelt agreed. "So we went there, caught up a bit. Told Jane how things were going. I mean, not that much has changed in the year he was gone, but we shared a couple stories, like that time Cho had to go undercover as a pimp."

Lisbon snorted, that had been one for the record books. Sometimes when she needed a bit of a laugh she called up the image of Cho wearing a bright red button-down with an oversized collar and a black fedora with a band of zebra print just above the brim. That had been a good day. They'd caught the guy too.

"Yeah, Jane was sorry he missed that," Rigsby added, speaking for the first time. "Well, that and the time that Grace tackled that housewife trying to escape arrest with her shopping cart."

"Anyway," Van Pelt interrupted quickly. "We caught up on each other's lives. We told stories, Jane told stories about... Well, you've probably heard most of them on the news anyway."

"Probably," Lisbon agreed.

"Then Jane started trying to give Cho advice on his love life," Van Pelt added. "It was nice to see him."

"Yeah, he looks good. Freelancing must be agreeing with him," Lisbon said absently, trying not to feel too left out. It'd been her choice not to go with them after all.

"He does," Van Pelt agreed. "He doesn't like Rigsby's haircut though. Thinks it's too short," she informed her boss.

Lisbon grinned slightly. Rigsby's haircut _was_ too short. Everyone thought so, though few people had actually told the agent that to his face.

"He thought Cho looked exactly the same," Rigsby informed her, interrupting her thoughts. "He thought you looked different though boss."

Lisbon barely suppressed her flinch. "Well, we're all growing older," she said evenly.

Van Pelt shot Rigsby a dirty look, "I'm sure that's not what he meant Lisbon," she insisted. "I'm sure he just thought your hair looked different or something."

"Probably," Lisbon agreed, brushing the thought aside and forcing herself not to run a hand self-consciously through her aforementioned hair. "It doesn't matter anyway. Alright, I guess we'd better go over what we know about this case." And with that she steered the conversation to something a little safer. Still, she was quite pleased with herself. Not only had she managed to break the awkwardness, but hopefully Rigsby and Van Pelt would stop acting so skittish whenever the topic of Jane came up. In fact, she figured she nearly had them convinced of her own indifference.

xxxxx

Both cars arrived at the crime scene at roughly the same time. Lisbon got out of the car and stretched. She could see the yellow tape was still all in place and a local officer was standing near the porch, presumably to keep curious passers-by from contaminating the scene. Lisbon had gotten Van Pelt to call her friend, Sheriff Granger while they were still half an hour away so the sheriff could meet them at the scene. The presence of the second police car in the driveway meant that the woman was probably already inside.

That suited Lisbon just fine. She hated waiting once she started in on a case. She nodded to Jane and Cho as they stepped out of their own vehicle. "Everyone okay?" she'd asked, mainly as a formality. It'd seemed like she should say something. When she saw their answering nods, Lisbon squared her shoulders and started walking down the path, confident that her team plus one temporary consultant would follow.

She was almost at the porch when the front door swung open and the woman she could only assume was the local sheriff walked out. "Agent Lisbon?" the woman guessed with a smile.

Lisbon returned it easily, "That's right," she said as she held out a hand.

"Sheriff Louisa Granger," the woman said, shaking it. "But please, call me Lou." Lisbon couldn't help subtly sizing her up. The handshake was firm, but not an attempt to intimidate, which was always a good sign. The woman was about Van Pelt's age, maybe a couple of years older. Her eyes were friendly and welcoming, though Lisbon would bet they were usually more playful than they appeared at the moment due to their proximity to the crime scene. She was blond, but her hair was tied back so it was out of the way, and her clothing was feminine but professional. Her attitude was confident, though Lisbon could see the nerves underneath, probably due to inexperience. Still, Sheriff Granger was clearly determined to succeed, and was probably more than a little ambitious if she'd already made Sheriff at her age. She also looked like she was used to having her own way, and knew how to get it. Lisbon decided she'd probably like this woman, as long as she didn't get in their way. She hoped that nothing happened to make them butt heads, especially given the sheriff's pre-existing friendship with Van Pelt.

Turning behind her, Lisbon began making introductions. "These are Agents Rigsby and Cho," she told Lou, who nodded in acknowledgement. "And you already know Van Pelt." Van Pelt sent the other woman a grin. Then Lisbon turned the final member of the group, "And this, as you also probably already know, is..."

"Patrick Jane," Jane said, smoothly interrupting her to take the sheriff's hand. "Lou did you say?" he asked, sending her his brightest smile. When she nodded he continued, "Lovely to meet you. I'll be consulting on the case."

Lou cleared her throat, clearly already a bit smitten with the handsome consultant. Lisbon resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Mr. Jane," the Sheriff said, finally finding her voice. "Your reputation precedes you. So pleased to have you helping us out. I didn't know you'd all be arriving together."

"It seemed easiest," Jane told her with a grin. Then, putting his hands in his pockets abruptly, he turned to glance at Lisbon, before turning his attention back to the sheriff, "So, shall we take a look at the crime scene."

Lisbon watched as Lou's eyes snapped back to business, "Of course, if you'll follow me. Everything's as it was, though the bodies of course were moved for the autopsies."

"Do we have the results yet?" Lisbon asked.

"No, not yet," Sheriff Granger admitted. "Although I've been promised that the final results will be released tomorrow morning at the latest. I'm hoping for earlier. I _can_ tell you that there were no obvious signs of foul play, though as you know, circumstances are certainly suspicious." She led the agents into a large central room. It was immediately obvious that the lower level of the house had been renovated to accommodate the law firm. The Sheriff gestured around her. "The firm really only has six employees. This area is where the three legal secretaries worked, a Ms. Agnes Brown, Mrs. Tina Lopez and a Mr. Richard Jenkins. There are doors as you can see which lead to the offices of the three lawyers, as well as a waiting room and a bathroom around the corner. The stairs to the second floor are through the far door to the left along with a back entrance. Upstairs we've got three bedrooms, the world's smallest kitchen, a second bathroom and some storage. Back door appears to have been forced open and only one of the office doors was tampered with, the one belonging to one of our victims, Joseph Church. His assistant, Mrs. Lopez couldn't see anything missing when we took her statement though."

"We'll need to take another look anyway," Lisbon informed the other woman.

"Of course," Lou agreed immediately. "I've already told all three secretaries to be expecting a call. I'll just show you where the bodies were found and then you can decide what you want to do first."

Lisbon shared a look with the rest of her team, surprised by the easy cooperation. The Sheriff caught it and grinned, "Look Agent Lisbon, I'm not trying to get in your way here," she explained. "I knew what I was getting into when I called Grace for help. Like you said when we spoke on the phone, CBI's lead agency on this. I get it, and quite frankly I don't even know if this is a murder case yet. I'm happy for the help I can get." All of which was perfectly true. Louisa Granger wanted this case solved. If the CBI were the ones to do it so be it. She was more than happy to invite them. She was admittedly, a little impatient and occasionally a little impulsive, mainly because she almost always thought doing something was better than doing nothing. And while she understood Agent Lisbon was in charge, she also had no intention of fading into the woodwork entirely. This was still her town, so they were going to keep her in the loop. Plus, ever since she'd first seen his charming smile on television, Lou'd wanted to see Patrick Jane at work.

Whatever the Sheriff's motives, Lisbon was just glad the entire case didn't look like it'd be a turf war. "Sorry," she said with a self-deprecating smile. "We're not always used to people being so cooperative."

The other woman just laughed. "I can imagine. Come on, first body was found over here." Assuming they would follow, Lou led them through the tastefully decorated office area to a large wooden door.

"It's not usually locked?" Rigsby asked.

"I'm told it's usually locked during business hours," the sheriff explained. "Or if no one was upstairs. But apparently when one of the partners decided to spend the night the door was often left unlocked. I guess they figured with all the outer doors secured..."

"So it wasn't locked the night the two men died then," Van Pelt summarized.

"No," Lou confirmed. "It wasn't. I assume you've all seen the crime scene photos?" Receiving a round of nods all around she continued, "Alright, the first body, Clem Golding was found here, at the bottom of the stairs. Given the placement of the body it's nearly impossible to determine whether the fall was an accident, whether he was pushed or whether he was struck in the head at the top of the stairs and then fell."

"You don't know if any injuries pre-date the fall then," Lisbon surmised.

"No," the Sheriff agreed.

"Oh he was pushed," Jane piped up.

Lisbon whipped her head around. "How do you know?" she asked him.

"Well come on Lisbon," he told her. "One partner dead upstairs, another one downstairs. Seems like quite a coincidence to me if it's not murder," Jane told her with a shrug.

Lisbon mentally counted back from five. She'd forgotten how annoying Jane could be. "I know that Jane," she told him. "I agree that something strange probably happened here, but it is also possible that Mr. Golding found the body of his friend, turned and ran for help, but because of the shock he miscalculated and fell down the stairs."

"Well, yes," Jane agreed grudgingly. "That's possible. But it seems unlikely. Look at him, he's wearing shoes, he's still got his coat on and he's carrying a bag and an umbrella."

"So?" she asked.

"So," Jane explained, his tone patronizing, "He'd just arrived. He wasn't staying late after a long day's work. He was meeting someone here. Probably his dead partner. Someone else probably found out about the meeting, didn't like it and killed him."

"Oh you're good," the sheriff told him appreciatively.

"And he knows it," Lisbon muttered under her breath.

"I don't suppose you could save us all a lot of trouble and tell us who he was meeting so we can arrest them and go home," Cho asked dryly.

Jane turned to his old friend. "Not yet," he admitted. "But hopefully soon."

"Well, until then why don't we continue with the crime scene," Lisbon suggested. "Sheriff?"

"Lou," the woman corrected absently, still watching Jane. Suddenly she turned and walked up the stairs. "Like I said, there are three bedrooms up here. The first one on the right was where we found Joseph Church. He was just lying on the bed like he was sleeping. No obvious cause of death as you know. This one could be natural causes. Far as we can tell none of the other bedrooms were touched."

"You dust for prints?" Cho asked.

The Sheriff nodded. "Yeah, but we didn't find any in any of the bedrooms that didn't belong to one of the three lawyers. There was the odd print from one of the secretaries in the upstairs hall, a couple from the employees of a cleaning service they use. Nothing particularly useful, which means..."

"Either the killer worked here or he wore gloves," Van Pelt surmised.

"Exactly," Lou replied with a sigh.

"I assume you've got people looking through the client list," Lisbon told her. "Seeing if anyone was particularly unhappy with their representation."

The sheriff nodded, "I've got officers going through past clients. That and any recent court cases, see if anybody lost big on the other side. But Agent Lisbon, most of the stuff is pretty run of the mill, a couple of nasty divorces sure, but not anything that warrants killing a man over. The secretaries gave us a couple of angry letters as well, but like I said, nothing that was too concerning."

"Still, we'll need to go through it all," Lisbon told her.

"I know," the sheriff agreed. "It's just going to take time."

Lisbon didn't bother to reply. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Jane began his usual process of looking in every nook and cranny of the room, apparently ignoring everyone around him. The visual brought back a string of memories that she ruthlessly shot down. Luckily the sheriff started speaking again, distracting her.

"Well, I'll just leave you to it then I guess," Lou told the assembled group.

Lisbon turned to the other woman. "Yes, thank you Sheriff. But before you go, we're going to need that list of contact information for the secretaries, and the cleaning staff if you have it."

Lou nodded, "Yeah, it's just downstairs."

"Good," Lisbon said before turning to Rigsby and Van Pelt, "Why don't you two grab the list and re-interview all the secretaries, and the cleaning staff," she suggested.

"Sure thing boss," Van Pelt agreed immediately.

"Oh," Lisbon said suddenly. "Have we heard anything about the whereabouts of the third partner?" she asked hopefully.

Lou shook her head, "Not yet. I've got a BOLO out at all the nearby airports and the train stations and she hasn't been home."

"I can get on that," Cho offered.

Lisbon nodded, trying not to dwell on the obvious implications, that Cho's absence would leave her and Jane alone at the crime scene. "While you're at it, why don't you take a look at those threatening letters the sheriff mentioned?"

"Sure boss," Cho replied.

Lou nodded as well, "I can give you a ride back to the station," she told him. "We've got a room set up for you, just like you asked and I'll get you copies of the letters."

"Great," Lisbon told her. "Thank you again Sheriff, for everything."

"Just doing my job," Lou said with a shrug. "If you need anything else don't hesitate to ask, any of you."

Lisbon watched the rest of them as they shuffled off downstairs, part of her wishing she was going with them. Instead she gave herself a mental shake, steeled herself up and turned back towards Jane, who now seemed to be inordinately interested in the victim's closet. "See anything in there that would suggest this was murder?" she asked.

"Oh, this one was definitely murder too," he told her. "I didn't have to look in the closet to know that."

Lisbon closed her eyes for the briefest of seconds. Was Jane being more annoying than before or had she just forgotten? "And how do you know that?" she asked him. "Besides the big fat coincidence of course."

"Of course," Jane agreed with a smirk. Then he turned back towards her, "Come on Lisbon, you've seen the crime scene photos."

"Yeah," she agreed. "So? He was lying on the bed."

"Lying on his back with his arms precisely at his sides and his legs straight out in front of him," Jane specified.

Lisbon shrugged her shoulders, "And?"

"And," Jane continued, "Who do you know that actually sleeps like that? I mean that perfectly? No one, that's who. Everyone I've ever met either sleeps on their side, or their stomach, or at the very least one limb is bent in some way. No one's that perfect."

"Yeah, it's suspicious, but it's also possible that our second victim found him somewhere else and placed him on the bed," Lisbon pointed out. "It's been known to happen."

"Nah," Jane told her with a wave of his hand. "I need to check the other bedrooms," he told her before abruptly leaving the room.

"Why?" Lisbon called after him. "Have you found something?"

She found him in the second room, again rummaging through the closet. "Jane?" she asked again. "Have you..."

"Would you wait one minute woman?" he practically growled. "I just need to check something. I promise I will explain everything to you after. Could you possibly just trust me for five minutes?"

They both froze. Jane immediately turned back to the closet he'd been rummaging through. Lisbon glanced desperately around the room, "Okay, I'll check the third bedroom. Give me a shout if you find something" she said quickly before practically fleeing the room.

She opened the remaining bedroom door and stepping inside. Shutting it behind her, Lisbon leaned back against it and closed her eyes, willing herself to regain her composure. She'd known being alone with him was a bad idea; she'd known he was still angry. Then she shook her head to clear it. He could be angry all he wanted. When it came right down to it she was the one who was in charge. She promised herself there was only so much of his crap he'd put up with. Besides, now that he'd accidentally taken a shot at her (and she did believe it was an accident) they both knew where they stood and they could be more careful. She wouldn't let him get to her anymore.

With a definitive nod of her head Lisbon snapped on a pair of latex gloves and started going through the third bedroom.

A few minutes later she heard a knock on the door, "Come on in," she called over her shoulder.

Jane opened the door tentatively, unsure of his reception. He hadn't meant to snap at her. He hadn't meant to allude to the past in any way and he was determined not to do it again. "Find anything?" he asked her.

"Maybe," Lisbon told him holding up a photo of their missing lawyer with an older couple, probably her parents. "Looks like this could be a summer home," she told him. "We should check it out, see if that's where our missing lawyer's hiding out"

Jane glanced at it and nodded, "Sounds good."

"You?" she asked casually, her eyes downcast as she pretended to search through the drawer in the bedside table.

"Maybe," Jane told her. She looked confused so he continued. "Might not have anything to do with anything, but it's probably worth talking about."

When he paused again Lisbon began counting down from twenty, determined not to press him for information a second time. Jane seemed to realize that, so he gestured her out the door, "Come on," he told her.

Wordlessly Lisbon followed. Jane turned into the second bedroom, "Okay, what's different between this room and the first room we were in?" he asked her.

Lisbon glanced around, "I don't know, it's bigger, there's more stuff in it?" she guessed.

"A lot more stuff," Jane confirmed.

"Okay, but Jane that's probably just differences in personality," Lisbon replied.

Jane opened the closet door. "Except that there are two different sizes of pants in this closet," he told her. "One of which matches the size of pants down the hall. Same with the shirts and jackets."

Lisbon looked puzzled for a minute before she realized what he was getting at, "Wait a minute, are you saying that..."

"I think two of our lawyers were in a relationship," Jane confirmed. "And when they were both here overnight they tended to stay in this room and not the other, hence the general increase of stuff, along with the two sizes of clothing."

Lisbon nodded, "You're right. It might be nothing, but we should still look into it. It might have bothered some people."

"People can be idiots," Jane remarked.

"Well yes, that's universal," Lisbon agreed.

"But it's not only that," Jane told her. "If they often spent the night in this room..."

Then what was the body doing in the other one if he was taking a nap?" Lisbon finished. "Alright, I see your point, but we still have to wait for the autopsy results to definitively assign the death a murder. You done here?" she asked.

"For now," Jane confirmed.

"Alright, why don't we get a hold of Rigsby and Van Pelt, see if any of the secretaries knew about the relationship? Then we should head back to the station, see if Cho's found anything out about our missing partner and check into the possibility of a summer house," she told him.

"Sounds good," Jane told her quickly. "I just want to take a quick look into the office that was broken into, maybe see if I see anything."

Lisbon nodded. "You do that. I'll call Rigsby and Van Pelt and meet you outside." With that she headed down the stairs relieved. She could deal with Jane when he stuck to professional topics.

When he met her outside ten minutes later, she was hanging up her phone. "Change of plans," she told him. "I called Cho about looking up this summer house but, in the meantime we have to get to the morgue. Apparently the coroner's found something he thinks we should see."

"Okay," Jane said quickly as he climbed into the passenger seat. "It also wouldn't be a bad idea to drop by our two victim's houses, try and confirm the relationship."

Lisbon nodded, "Later." She put the keys in the ignition and started the car. "Morgue first."

xxxxxx

By unspoken agreement after finishing up at the morgue the pair immediately turned towards the station. Not only had the trip taken longer than expected, but what they'd learned was important enough that the needed to talk it over with the team as soon as possible.

"So they _were_ probably both murdered," Lisbon said softly, breaking the silence.

"Told you," Jane replied.

Lisbon managed to stop herself from smacking him. Just.

Instead she decided to run through what the coroner had told them. Cause of death of Clem Golding the stairway victim was, as everyone had already suspected, the fall down the stairs. He'd hit his head numerous times on the way down, and had been killed almost instantly. Though the coroner couldn't be 100% sure, he'd showed Lisbon a blow to the side of the head that looked like it'd could've been made by a fist. It wasn't fatal in and of itself, but the punch to the head could have caused Mr. Golding to fall down the stairs to his death. Mr. Church's story was even more interesting. It turned out the man was diabetic but his blood sugar had been near zero. Working on a hunch the coroner had found a small puncture wound near his wrist. It looked like the killer had injected high doses of insulin (probably from the victim's own supply) into his bloodstream along with a mild sedative, causing Joseph Church to slip into a diabetic coma.

Lisbon sighed. The confirmation of double murder destroyed any remnant of faint hope that she'd had that the case would turn out to be one of the easy ones. She'd called Hightower earlier only to be informed by her boss that two congressman, both of whom were represented by the local firm, had also called to ensure that the case was being dealt with as quickly and as quietly as possible. Lisbon was tactful, but she'd really wanted to slam her head against the wall. She could only hope that there was no reason for Jane to come into contact with either politician. That was the last thing she needed.

Still, at least the confirmation of murder and the mode of killing told them one thing, Mr. Golding's death may have been an accident or at least unplanned, but Mr. Church's murder was definitely pre-meditated. And it was committed by someone who knew the deceased well enough to be familiar with his medical history.

She wasn't exactly sure yet what they were dealing with, but this definitely wasn't a run of the mill robbery.

xxxxx

TBC

I know this one was pretty case heavy, but the case figures pretty prominently, and the next chapter has almost nothing, so I'm sure it evens out.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Alright here we go, next chapter. And I'm loving all the people reviewing and telling me how much they love Austen. It makes my day. To those of you who liked all the case stuff, I'm glad. Of course, as luck would have it there's very little case-related stuff in this one. Hope you still like it.

xxxxx

Chapter 4

xxxxx

When they reached the station house Lisbon and Jane filled in the rest of the team on what they'd learned at the morgue. Rigsby and Van Pelt had just arrived as well. The two agents had spoken to all three legal secretaries. Two of them didn't have an alibi, both claiming to have been home alone. On the other hand, the third of the firm's employees, Mrs. Lopez, the woman who'd found the bodies, had been at her daughter's dance recital at the time of the murders and there were about twenty people to corroborate the story.

"We're trying to confirm that the other two were actually at home," Rigsby told his boss. "No luck so far, but as far as we can tell, neither of them has a motive to kill their bosses."

"Well, not one that they told you about at least," Jane clarified.

Rigsby sent him a grin, "No."

"What about the relationship between Church and Golding?" Lisbon asked. "Did their employees know about it?"

"They knew," Van Pelt confirmed. "Apparently it wasn't really a secret. They were open about it in their personal lives, though professionally they certainly didn't advertize it. According to all three secretaries, both men were worried about professional fallout. But no one seemed to think it was an issue, or even mentioned it ever causing any problems."

"Still," Lisbon said. "You never know." Then she turned to Lou, who'd been listening in on the conversation. "Sheriff, can you think of anybody that the relationship might have caused a problem for?"

Lou didn't even bother reminding the other woman to call her by her first name. It seemed like it was a lost cause anyway. "Well, there's the usual suspects," she replied. "The intolerant idiots, hate groups. You know the type. I could see them sending threatening letters, maybe some vandalism, but murder? Especially given that our two lawyers were hardly flaunting the relationship. I mean, there are better targets, more _visible_ targets if all this was a hate crime. And if it was a little more personal, well, for the most part people are pretty tolerant about same-sex relationships around here. I just don't see it."

Lisbon sighed; she'd figured as much. "Yeah. Homophobic hate crime doesn't exactly fit with the theory that the murder knew about Church's medical history either. Alright, what about the cleaning crew then? Anything?"

Rigsby shook his head. "We called the service and spoke to the two employees responsible for taking care of the law firm. Both seemed genuinely shocked and upset by the murders and both had alibis. We're checking the alibis obviously, but I don't think they had anything to do with it either."

She turned to Cho hopefully, "Anything in the client list?"

Cho shook his head, "Sheriff was right, nothing that stands out. We checked up on a few of the angry letters, but one of the authors is dead, a second's in prison, a third's moved out of state and the last is in rehab. None of them look good for it. Besides, client is unlikely isn't it? Given that we think the victim knew his killer?"

"Well isn't this just great?" Lisbon asked. "We've apparently ruled out hate crime due to homosexuality, affair, random robbery, an attack by an angry client and accidental death. Tell me, are we any closer to finding out what actually happened?"

"Look on the bright side Lisbon," Jane told her. "It's like Sherlock Holmes always said, when you've ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be true."

"Yeah, well I think we've got a hell of a lot more to rule out before we can narrow this one down definitively," Lisbon told him in irritation. She always found it frustrating when cases ground to a standstill.

"Jane's right," Lou said cheerfully. "At least we've ruled out some of our suspects. I'm sure we'll figure something out soon. We have to be optimistic."

Lisbon wanted to smack her.

It was easy for the younger woman to say. She wasn't the one who had a very image-conscious boss breathing down her throat. She also wasn't trying to dodge the calls of a couple of congressmen and a couple dozen reporters. Still, Lisbon told herself, she couldn't justifiably be mad at Lou. The other woman had been nothing but helpful since they'd arrived. The sheriff had called in the CBI for their experience. Because of that experience it was Lisbon's job to deal with all the problems. Louisa Granger appeared to be a good cop. A bit headstrong, maybe even a touch impulsive, but all things considered, a good cop. Lisbon had met with much, much worse.

"I _have_ located the house at least Boss," Cho informed her after a minute. "It actually belongs to our missing partner's aunt. From the sounds of it, the whole family spends time there though. Our missing partner apparently acts as a caretaker for the property since she lives the closest and the aunt lives out of state. It's beachfront, not too far a drive from here if you want to check it out."

Lisbon looked up hopefully. "Yeah, that sounds like it's a good idea," she told him. "We should probably get a warrant first though, given that the third partner seems to be trying to lay low for whatever reason. Always best to be sure we'll be able to get in the door. Besides, we'll probably need to search the place anyway."

"I can get one by tomorrow afternoon at the latest," Lou promised. "It's getting a bit late in the day so it'll be harder to find a cooperative judge."

"Alright," Lisbon told her. "Then why don't we plan on re-checking our victim's houses in the morning and head to the seashore in the afternoon?" Lisbon asked the group.

"Excuse me," the sheriff said, "But if you don't mind my asking, _why_ are we re-checking the victim's houses? My deputies already swept them and there's nothing there."

Lisbon shrugged, "Fresh eyes," she told the other woman. "Plus Jane wants to take a look around."

Lou turned immediately to consultant, her tone immediately playful. "Oh, I see. Going to work your magic for us are you?"

"Maybe," Jane told her with a lazy grin.

"I can't wait to see it," she replied.

If anything his grin got wider.

"I'm starving," Rigsby said before Jane could say anything else.

Lisbon chuckled to herself, "We could all use a break. It's been a long day. Why don't we grab some dinner and call it a night?"

That idea seemed to suit the entire group just fine, and after a few last minute instructions to one of the deputies, all six of them found themselves outside the police station. Lisbon was just about to ask the sheriff if she knew a good place to eat when something else caught her attention.

"Patrick Ambrosius Jane!" they heard a voice call from across the street.

"Ambrosius?" Rigsby mouthed to Van Pelt, who giggled.

Jane turned towards the woman approaching the. "Sophie?" he said, clearly surprised. "What are you doing here?" he asked as he jogged a few steps to meet her before sweeping her into a hug.

The woman laughed. "I live here you idiot. I'm the one who should be asking you that question."

"Yeah," Jane acknowledged. "Well actually..."

"You're here trying to help the police solve the murders at the law firm on the other side of town," Sophie guessed. When Jane looked surprised she laughed again, "Patrick, I've seen your face splashed around my television off and on for the last year or so and the murders are all over the local news. I'm not an idiot. I can put two and two together to make four. But we're being rude to your friends. Sophie Croft, an old friend of Patrick's" she said, introducing herself to the group.

The rest of them introduced themselves immediately. "It's nice to meet you," Sophie told them. "I figured I'd better start the introductions or we'd all be standing around here for hours waiting for Patrick to get around to it." Lisbon smiled, Jane looked mildly embarrassed.

"How've you been Soph?" he asked.

"Great. Really great actually. Still married, no kids though. But we're happy. How 'bout you? I haven't seen you in years. I'm sorry about, well... but I didn't know how to call. We'd lost touch and..."

Jane waved her off. "I'm not the best at keeping in touch either."

"No," she agreed. "You're not."

"You'll have to work on that Patrick Ambrosius," Rigsby told him, tongue firmly in cheek.

Van Pelt dissolved into giggles, Cho smirked and Lisbon tried to hide her grin behind her hand.

Jane rounded on the tallest agent. "That's not my middle name!" he said quickly.

"Sure it isn't," Rigsby said agreeably. "I wouldn't want to admit to that either."

"It's not!" Jane insisted. Then before he realized what he was doing he'd turned to Lisbon for support, "Help me out here Lisbon."

Lisbon was momentarily shocked by the question, but she managed to cover it. "Sorry guys," she told her agents. "But he's right. I've seen his personnel file. Jane here doesn't have a middle name."

"There! See!" Jane said, clearly relieved by the confirmation.

"It's true, he doesn't," Sophie admitted. "And I always felt that he should have one, if only for yelling purposes. He needs it. So every time I see him I come up with a new one for him. Usually it's the most ridiculous name I can think of at the moment. Last time it was Ezekiel wasn't it?"

"Yes," Jane agreed. "You were particularly interested in the prophets at that point in time if I'm not mistaken. Sophie's a professor of comparative religions," he explained.

"Wow," Van Pelt said. "That's impressive."

But Sophie waved off the compliment self-consciously. "Thanks. So how long are you in town Patrick? I hope we can catch up while you're here."

Jane shrugged his shoulders, "Hard to say. Depends on the case."

Before Sophie could answer Van Pelt interrupted. "We're all on our way to grab some dinner right now though. Why don't you join us?"

Van Pelt's request was quickly seconded by her colleagues. Jane looked mildly scared at the prospect, but soon relaxed and repeated the offer. Finding all of her polite objections quickly overruled, Sophie eventually agreed to join them. About ten minutes later the group was seated at a Chinese restaurant.

"So how long have you known Jane?" Van Pelt asked the newcomer. She knew everyone at the table was curious about Jane's past. Before Lisbon would have been the one to ask the question, but even though she'd been curious about that herself, Lisbon also knew that she no longer had the right to ask. Luckily for her Van Pelt had no such scruples. Lisbon almost envied the younger agent for that. The redhead and Jane could still be friends, while she and Jane were doomed to be at best occasional colleagues.

"Oh ages!" Sophie answered easily with a wave of her hand. "I met him when we were both young and stupid growing up in Southern California."

"Careful what you say Soph," Jane warned. "Remember you're sitting at a table full of law enforcement professionals."

She laughed, "Well, then I'll just say that I met the great Patrick Jane before either of us were quite the upstanding citizens we are now. This was long before I decided to get the doctorate and become respectable Dr. Sophie Croft. For the most part Jane was trying to make his name as a psychic, and I was basically doing a whole lot of nothing. There was a whole group of us. We were pretty close. For all that I tease, Pat here was like a brother to me. But then you know how it is, your lives change. I got busy with grad school; Pat was trying to get on television…"

"You drifted apart," Lisbon supplied.

Sophie nodded, "We did. Still kept in touch for a while though. I saw him a couple of times a year, but then, well… More stuff happened."

"It's okay," Jane told her, apparently temporarily forgetting that Lou was at the table. "They know all about it. I worked with Lisbon's team for years post Red John."

Sophie glanced over at the other woman, clearly surprised. "You actually managed to supervise this one for that long?" she asked cocking her head in Jane's direction.

Lisbon just nodded, not trusting her voice.

"You must have the patience of a saint," the good doctor concluded.

Lisbon laughed softly before she could stop herself. "We had our moments," she admitted. "But he has his uses, as I'm sure you well know. And we solved a lot of cases."

"And then?" Sophie asked.

Lisbon shrugged, "Like you said, things change."

Sophie looked closely at the other woman, before nodding. "That they do." Then in a more cheerful tone she added, "Speaking of things changing Pat, Did you know Harry Cornish lives not half an hour from here along the ocean?"

"You're joking!" Jane exclaimed. "Harry actually settled down?"

Sophie nodded, "I know. I was as surprised as you are when I ran into him one day. It seems Harry's no longer plying his carpentry skills creating cabinets with false backs or desks with hidden drawers. He owns a boating supply shop and in his spare time he builds boats himself. Guess that means at least three of the old gang ended up on the right side of the law."

"We're actually going down to the shore for the case tomorrow," Jane told her. "If I have time I'll look him up. Do you have his number?"

"In my Blackberry," Sophie confirmed. "And you should definitely get in touch. He's been there for years, become a bit of a fixture in the community. Apparently he knows everyone. He might be able to help you."

Jane paused. "Well, we'll keep that in mind but…"

"But the trip tomorrow's not exactly the kind of thing we really want the locals knowing about in advance," Cho told her.

"I see," Sophie said. "Well, I promise not to sound the alarm then, but I still think you should call him when you're there Patrick."

"If I have time," he promised her.

"Good," Sophie said. "We should have kept in better touch over the years. Friends like us… I'm sorry Jane. I know I was as bad as anyone, and then after…"

Jane cut her off, knowing what she was getting at and really not wanting to talk about his family over dinner in front of everyone. "It's okay Soph. It was nobody's fault. And you're here now."

Sophie sent him a sad smile.

Lisbon decided a change in the subject was in order.

"So, how do you like being a professor?" she asked. "I'd imagine it's a lot of work."

"A lot of paperwork at least," Sophie told her dryly. "I'm up to my ears in grant applications, and exams, papers to be graded, and financial stuff all day long. Sometimes I wonder if my in-box even has a bottom."

"Apparently our jobs have more in common than I would have thought," Lisbon told her with a grin.

"Pointless bureaucracy, the true scourge of the modern world," Sophie agreed raising her glass in a mock toast.

Lisbon smiled and did the same. "I'll drink to that," she said.

After putting her glass down Sophie gave another half laugh. "No, it is a lot of work, and the paperwork's a pain, but really I love it. I love my research, delving into primary sources, suggesting things no one's ever thought of before. It can be frustrating at times, but what isn't? And I teach as well. I originally thought I'd hate it, but the truth is, I actually enjoy lecturing. So for all its flaws I wouldn't trade the job for anything."

"You teach as well?" Lisbon repeated.

Sophie nodded, "Yeah. A couple of classes a semester usually. Keeps me a little more connected with the outside world. Sometimes the academic bubble becomes a little too insular," she explained. "Besides, It's nice to interacting with the student. Most of the time."

Lisbon nodded.

"But you never wanted children of your own?" Van Pelt asked.

"Never seemed like the right time," the professor said with a shrug. "Besides, like I said, I like my life."

"Plus her husband's basically an overgrown child himself isn't he Soph?" Jane asked with a laugh. "How is Greg?"

Sophie grinned. "He's good. He'll be sorry he missed you, but he's out of town for a conference for a few days."

"However will he get by without you?" Jane teased. "Seriously," he told the rest of the group. "They're almost sickening together. At least they were the last time I saw them. Finished each other's sentences and everything."

"Oh, now stop that Patrick, or I'll be forced to retaliate and tease you about your love life," Sophie told him.

Jane froze, his expression becoming ever so slightly panicked.

"I thought so," Sophie replied. "But now that we're on the subject, _is _there anyone special?"

Jane tried to brush it off, "Oh you know me Soph, that ship sailed long ago."

"Still, you're telling me you've never been tempted to try again?" she pressed.

"Not in a long time," Jane said with a brief, but meaningful glance towards Lisbon. "You know what they say, once burned, twice shy."

Lisbon suddenly found her dinner plate very interesting.

"Oh, now that's just depressing Patrick," Lou interjected. "Besides, you never know, maybe you haven't met the right woman," she told him with a flirtatious smile.

Jane sent her a wink in return. "Maybe not. But the thing about reckless free-lance consultants, they can't settle down, job requirement. We're too busy roaming around the state when we're needed, solving crimes."

Rigsby snorted. "Way to make yourself sound like a gunslinger in the old west man," he told the consultant.

Jane just shrugged his shoulders, letting the conversation moved on to other, safer topics.

On the other hand it was almost ten minutes before Lisbon spoke again.

xxxxx

For the most part dinner was a cheerful affair. Sophie was pleasant company. Friendly without being overly personal or intrusive, sensible but not boring, plus she had a lovely sense of humour and a way of putting Jane in his place that Lisbon found particularly endearing.

As dinner began to wind down, Lou tentatively suggested extending the evening into a drink at a local bar. Rigsby and Van Pelt readily accepted the offer. Sophie declined, citing a lecture the next morning that she hadn't quite finished preparing for. Lisbon also politely refused.

"I think I'm going to just head back to the hotel, maybe call Hightower with an update and deal with a bunch of administrative stuff," she told a clearly disappointed Van Pelt. "But you guys go ahead," she urged the others. "Really, I'm getting kind of tired anyway. I might just get an early night. Don't stay out too late."

"Okay Mom," Rigsby teased.

"I'll take you back to the hotel Boss," Cho offered.

"Oh no that's okay Cho," Lisbon told him with a grin. "I can find my own way back. You should stay and have fun. I think I'm safe without an escort."

"I don't mind," Cho told her.

"That's sweet," Lisbon told him. She figured Cho probably didn't like the idea of her leaving alone. Still, she didn't want to be reason he missed out on the fun. "But you should stay," she tried to insist.

"Yeah, I actually passed the bar they're talking about earlier today," he told her. "It's a country bar."

"So?" she asked him, wondering what that had to do with anything.

"Turns out I'm not as fond of line dancing and stupid looking hats as people think," Cho explained.

Lisbon laughed, Jane's head snapped around in surprise. He hadn't heard Lisbon laugh like that in a while. She didn't notice, "I see," she told her right-hand man.

"Plus I'm halfway through Middlemarch," Cho added.

Lisbon smiled indulgently. Of course he'd prefer reading to cowboys. "In that case, I'd be happy to let you accompany me back to the hotel Agent Cho. See you guys later," she told her team.

"Night boss," Van Pelt said cheerfully. Rigsby repeated the sentiment.

"It was lovely meeting you," Lisbon said to Sophie.

"Likewise," she replied. "I hope we meet again."

Lisbon smiled genuinely. Jane's old friend was a lovely woman. "Hey, if you're ever in Sacramento," she told her.

"Absolutely," Sophie replied.

With a final nod to the table, Lisbon and Cho left the rest of the group.

When she paused to search for the keys to the SUV in the bottom of her purse Lisbon heard Jane ask Van Pelt if she ever went out with the team anymore.

"Not as much as she used to," Van Pelt admitted.

Jane nodded, considering.

Van Pelt took a breath before adding, "She feels bad about what happened a year ago you know."

Jane's head whipped around. Van Pelt saw the original flash of anger mixed with a hint of surprise before he forced his expression into something more neutral. "I know," he told the woman he'd always think of as the rookie. "Don't worry about it Grace. We're different people now. It's water under the bridge," he promised. "Now come on, let's get the check and clear out of here."

Van Pelt nodded, but she didn't seem convinced. Lisbon hurried out the door before they realized she hadn't actually left yet.

In a way Jane was right, the two of them were trying their best to put the past behind them, but the way things were going it seemed inevitable that Red John's death would always define their relationship.

xxxxx

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Yay that everyone is liking both the case and the character stuff. This chapter is a bit of a mixture of both. Thank you to everyone who's reviewing; sadly I can't take credit for the basic character plot. It's honestly straight Jane Austen.

This one's going up a bit early since I'll be gone most of the day. Hope you enjoy it.

xxxxx

Chapter 5

xxxxx

Lisbon idly stirred sugar into her morning coffee, waiting for the rest of her team to wake up a bit before they set out.

Van Pelt walked over to her, her own coffee in hand. "Morning," the redhead said with a smile.

"Morning Van Pelt," Lisbon replied. "Ready to check out the victim's houses?" she asked with exaggerated cheerfulness.

Van Pelt laughed softly. Rigsby walked up with a grin. "I know I'm excited," he told his boss. "And I bet someone else is too."

Lisbon looked confused.

"Sheriff Granger," Rigsby clarified. "Lou seemed pretty interested in what Jane had to say last night. Those two were pretty cozy at the bar if you know what I mean, and then they disappeared together, for what, like an hour?" he asked Van Pelt.

Van Pelt was too busy shooting him a glare over the top of her coffee mug to reply. She would have been angrier, but Lisbon didn't look particularly upset. Maybe their boss really didn't care what Jane did.

"All I'm saying is that I bet the sheriff makes sure she's searching the same house as Jane," Rigsby concluded.

Lisbon shrugged, determined not to let it bother her. What did it matter to her if Jane made friends with Lou? Lisbon had no claim on him. Besides, she wanted him to be happy. The young woman seemed nice enough, and she was clearly fascinated with Jane and what he did. Lou'd asked the consultant endless questions at dinner the night before. Lisbon suspected that it was only Sophie's presence that had caused any shift in the conversation at all. Besides, Lou was lively and friendly; _she_ was quite willing to spend her evenings relaxing in a bar with her colleagues. _Of course_ Jane was drawn to her. As long as it didn't interfere with the case Lisbon wouldn't interfere.

A few minutes later the three Agents were joined by Jane and Cho. Not too long after that Sheriff Granger arrived.

"Alright," Lisbon said as she rolled her shoulders. "So we're assuming that Church was our killer's original target and that Golding just showed up at the wrong place at the wrong time, right?" When everyone nodded she continued. "Then it seems to me that today we should focus on going over Church's house and maybe Greenwood's. Church's might show us stuff we're missing, Greenwood's might tell us where to look for her, assuming she's not at her aunt's summer house."

"Sounds good," Van Pelt said. "Rigsby and I can go to Greenwood's if you like," she suggested. "We can see if her house matches up with what her secretary told us about her."

"Alright," Lisbon agreed. She was about to continue when Cho beat her to it.

"I'll go with you," he told them. When Lisbon looked at him he shrugged, "Hey, I've already talked to the aunt. I know a bit about the family. Plus if there are three of us we might get done more quickly, in which case we can always head over to the second victim's house. That'll give you and Jane time to go check out Church's place so hand give him ample time to poke his nose into whatever he wants."

Lisbon narrowed her eyes at her senior agent briefly. He'd been the one to leave he and Jane alone the day before as well. She wondered briefly if her team had some sort of ulterior motive. Then she brushed the thought aside. They were probably just hoping to provoke a reconciliation. If she and Jane could be in the same room together without tearing each other's heads off then her team would probably get to see Jane more often than once a year. "That sounds good," Lisbon agreed finally.

"If you don't mind I'd like to go with you," Lou told her. "That way I can show you what we've already done." Lisbon nodded. "Besides," the sheriff added. "I wouldn't mind seeing Patrick Jane in action again. I find myself intrigued by your work," she told him.

"Well then I hope I don't disappoint you," he replied cheerfully.

"Alright, then what are we waiting for?" Lou asked as she bustled out of the room, Jane and Cho following more slowly.

"Told ya," Rigsby said to the two remaining women.

Lisbon playfully slapped him in the arm with a file before she followed the others out.

xxxxx

Lisbon finished going through their victim's kitchen; she hadn't found anything worth mentioning. Apparently their victim had liked to cook, but she somehow doubted that was relevant. Jane and Lou were upstairs searching the bedroom. Lisbon had offered to check out the downstairs, finding herself tired of hearing Lou extol Jane's virtues while the consultant preened and showed off. Sheriff Granger was many things, but subtle was not one of them.

But then again, on the surface neither was Jane.

Lisbon sighed as she took off her gloves and headed upstairs. She hoped the two of them had better luck. When she reached the top of the landing their voices caught her attention. She knew better, but she couldn't help herself. She paused on the landing outside the door, telling herself she just wanted to hear what they were talking about. She'd interrupt them in a minute but they obviously hadn't heard her come up the stairs yet.

"Church was certainly organized," Lou said as she looked at his bookshelf and noted everything on it was arranged alphabetically, then chronologically by author.

"Everything had its place," Jane agreed, again apparently distracted by the man's closet. "Probably why he liked the law, he enjoyed the order, the rules involved."

"Agent Lisbon seems very fond of the rules," Lou remarked absently to her companion. Lisbon froze. Well, she couldn't interrupt them now. It'd be unbelievably awkward.

"Yes," Jane told Lou with half a laugh. "She can be a bit of a stickler for them sometimes, but she's very good at her job."

"Oh, I'm sure she is," Lou said immediately. "I don't doubt that. You can totally tell the way everyone acts around her. Still..."

"What?" Jane asked, his eyes warm, open, encouraging the confidence.

"Well..." Lou hemmed.

"Yes?" Jane pressed.

"I probably shouldn't be telling you this," she told him guiltily.

Jane shrugged, "What do I care? I'm not law enforcement remember? I'm a freelance consultant, a lone wolf. I'm on no one's team now."

Lou laughed, clearly amused. "Right, I keep forgetting. Well, it's just, since I got this job all the rules are kind of driving me crazy! I don't know how she does it."

"Everyone has different styles," Jane said diplomatically. Lisbon rolled her eyes, remember countless occasions where her ex-consultant had mercilessly teased her (or worse) for her commitment to procedure.

"You seem like you're a bit more lenient," Lou pointed out. "Maybe a bit of a rebel. _You_ take risks."

"Not everyone thinks that's a good thing," Jane reminded her gently.

"Still, you get results," Lou insisted. "You push boundaries and it pays off."

"Most of the time," Jane admitted.

"I love that," she told him. "I mean, protocol is all very well and good, but I don't think I could ever let it get in the way of solving a case. The idea of a killer going free because of protocol just makes me crazy. In this business you've got to trust your people, and you've got to catch the bad guys. And to me, that's all that matters. I can't possibly be worried about dotting every 'i' and crossing every 't.' I absolutely refuse to obsess over every little thing so much that I miss the big picture. Sometimes you just have to trust your gut and go for it you know?"

Jane paused, "I know exactly what you mean," he told her softly. "Sometimes I wish more cops thought like you. Those were strong opinions; you should stick by them."

Lou smiled warmly. "I say what I mean."

"It's a good quality," Jane told her. "Try not to lose it."

"It's how I got this job," she told him with a shrug. "People trust me."

Jane didn't answer.

Outside in the hall Lisbon was frozen. Is that what he thought? Is that honestly what he thought? That she was that rigid about the rules? How could he possibly think that? If it was true she wouldn't have lasted with him as a consultant for a _week_, let alone the years they'd worked together. And of course she followed procedure most of the time. It was necessary, and it'd saved his bacon more than once. Yes, she'd lied to him about Red John. But she'd lied _once_, and to _protect him_. How many times had he lied to her over the years? Twenty? Fifty? A hundred? That ungrateful...

Lisbon checked herself. She'd known he was angry. Now she realized it wasn't just anger, it was resentment. Clearly there wasn't all that much point in trying for reconciliation with Jane. She figured it would be best to just try and get through the case as quickly as possible and then they could part ways again. She was pretty sure it was what Jane wanted.

Lisbon slowly crept back down the stairs. When she came back ten minutes later the bedroom was silent. "Find anything?" she asked with forced cheerfullness.

Jane looked briefly confused by her tone, but she ignored him.

"Well, our victim seems to have been a bit of a packrat," Lou told her. "We've found ticket stubs to movies dating back years along with the programs from what I'm guessing is every single performance at the theatre he's ever gone too."

Lisbon sent her a tight smile, "I meant anything useful," she clarified.

"Not really," Lou told her. "Well, not that I can see, I can't speak for Mr. Jane."

"Jane?" Lisbon asked her tone a bit short.

Jane raised an eyebrow at the tone, but apparently decided to ignore it. "Well, I can tell you a bit more than nothing," he told her. "The man was organized, methodical. Nothing out of place. Except," he told her opening the closet door with a flourish, "In this half of the closet."

"He had a frequent visitor," Lisbon surmised.

"A very frequent visitor," Jane told her. "I'll bet we'd see something similar at Golding's."

"Not a surprise," Lisbon told him. "We knew they were in a committed relationship already, remember? You already guessed and their secretaries confirmed it. So unless you're about to tell me that you thought there was trouble between them, or maybe an affair, I don't really see how their relationship status is relevant at this point."

"Patience Lisbon," he told her, his tone mildly scolding. "Actually, what I can tell you is that it was quite the opposite. Based on the placement of the pictures on the wall, the equal mixing of items belonging to both men in the bathroom, the overall set-up of the house, I'm fairly confident that the relationship was going strong. I'd be very surprised if either of them was having an affair."

"Well good for them," Lisbon muttered.

"At least we can rule out a romantic motive now," Jane told her, his brow furrowed. Lisbon wasn't acting like herself. Something was wrong. He brushed the thought aside. It wasn't any of his business anymore, and she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She'd told him that more times than he could count.

"There's nothing here," Lisbon said with a sigh.

"Told you," the sheriff said pleasantly, removing her own gloves. "We searched the place pretty thoroughly before you got here and we came up with the same thing."

Lisbon really, really wanted to smack her now. Not because the woman was _wrong_, but just... Oh, why wouldn`t this case just end? She _really_ needed to catch a break.

"Alright," Lisbon said. "I'll call the others, see where they are and if we need to meet them at the other victim's." With that she abruptly turned and went back downstairs.

Jane nodded, ignoring Lou's cheerful chatter as he watched Lisbon walk out the door. She looked almost... defeated, which _really_ wasn't good. He hoped nothing had happened. The two of them may not have been the best of friends anymore, but he certainly didn't wish her any harm.

He frowned again. His concern was unexpected.

xxxxx

Turned out that without Jane and his insistence on going through people's sock drawers, the others had been able to double check the homes of the two other partners in the time it had taken her, Lou and Jane to do one. Lisbon would have been more pleased except that her three agents hadn't found anything either. Because she knew Jane'd ask, Lisbon made Rigsby look in Golding's closet before they left. Storing the contents in her memory just in case, Lisbon told the others to head back to the station and they'd meet them there.

Walking over to the SUV where Lou and Jane were waiting for her, Lisbon brought them up to speed. "Nothing of note at either of the other two residences," she told them. "I know you'd checked already," she said for the sheriff's benefit. "But we had to be sure." She unlocked the door. "Oh," she said, turning back towards Jane. "I made Rigsby look in Golding's closet. Seems the contents were almost identical to Church's. No obvious signs of an affair there either. Guess you were right about the equal partnership."

"Nice job," Lou told him, clearly impressed.

Jane sent Lou a brief smile for the compliment before turning his attention back to Lisbon. He was surprised she'd bothered to check that for him at all. "Thank you Lisbon," he told her sincerely.

"Thank Rigsby not me," she told him with a shrug. "He was the one who did the actual looking."

"Still," he told her.

"It's the job right?" she asked him. "Gotta get it done."

Jane frowned, examining her face closely. He noticed her eyebrows pinching together slightly. Wordlessly the consultant took his ex-boss by the arm and led her around to the passenger seat.

Lisbon was too surprised to jerk her arm out of his grip. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded.

Jane ignored her indignation and opened the door. "Get in," he told her.

"What?" she asked him, hands on her hips. She so did not have time for this right now.

"Get in," he repeated. "You have a headache. There's Tylenol in the glove compartment."

"Jane I am perfectly capable of driving..." Lisbon started to tell him.

"I know," he interrupted. "But I think Lou's feeling a bit unproductive this morning given that we didn't find anything so we're going to let her drive back. I know you hate my driving, so she's got to be preferable to me in the driver's seat. The break will help. I insist."

Sighing Lisbon decided she just didn't care anymore. She tossed Lou the keys (perfect Lou and her perfect driving skills, if the Sheriff got so much as _a scratch_ on the car...) and got into the passenger seat in a huff. "Fine," Lisbon snapped at Jane.

"Good," he replied a hint of irritation in his own voice as he barely stopped himself from slamming the door after her. Stupid, stubborn woman. Had to make a big production out of the littlest things. She couldn't just accept that maybe she should someone else do the simplest thing sometimes. No not Teresa Lisbon. Heaven forbid she loosened her iron-grip on life and went so far as getting in the passenger side of a car. She'd try the patience of a saint.

Still, Jane couldn't help smiling just a little when he saw her reaching for the painkillers.

She'd feel better once she got her blood sugar back up.

xxxxx

Lisbon walked quietly into the station. The good news was her headache was starting to fade. The bad news was that Jane was confusing the hell out of her. The past twenty-four hours she wasn't sure he'd said more than fifteen words to her that didn't directly pertain to the case. Now suddenly he was noticing that she had a headache and giving her painkillers? What was a girl supposed to think?

That he was still angry was clear. But she guessed he didn't actually want to see her in any sort of physical discomfort. Lisbon blinked. Well... that was almost _nice_.

He didn't want to work with her on a regular basis, didn't like her particular style of solving cases. He'd basically implied as much to Sheriff Granger earlier after all, but apparently Jane wasn't going to be so petty as to let her sit around in pain if he knew about it. Not that she'd have let him live in agony if she could prevent it either, but still.

Maybe she and Patrick Jane could salvage some sort of professional relationship after all.

She joined the others in the station. "Any news on the warrant yet?" she asked.

"On its way as we speak," Lou told her, pleased to see the senior agent was looking better. Lou wondered how Jane had known she wasn't feeling well. She shrugged it off. It was probably just one of the many wonderful things about people that Patrick Jane just _knew_.

"Good," Lisbon said with a smile. "Why don't we break for lunch then and meet back here in an hour. We'll leave then."

"Sounds good," Rigsby said eagerly. "Who's up for Mexican?" he asked excitedly.

Van Pelt looked at Lisbon desperately. "I was going to go to a little sandwich place around the corner," Lisbon told her. "It looked cool and quiet. Want to join me?"

"You read my mind," Van Pelt said, smiling in relief.

Before they could leave one of the local officers interrupted them. "Agent Lisbon," he said from the doorway, "I think you're going to want to hear this."

"What is it?" she asked.

"Tina Lopez, our first victim's secretary," the deputy replied. "She came in this morning while you were out and offered to go through some of the files in the office that was broken into more closely. You know, to see if anything was missing. Since she already had an airtight alibi and we'd cleared her for the murders, we figured, why not?"

"Is something wrong? Did something happen?" Lisbon asked quickly. That was the last thing she needed.

"No, nothing like that," the deputy hastened to assure her. "It's just, well, she found something."

He gestured to a woman in the hallway and Mrs. Lopez herself walked into the room. "Agent Lisbon," she said. "As you just heard, I offered to go through some of Mr. Church's files more closely to see if anything had been tampered with?" Lisbon nodded encouragingly, so Mrs. Lopez continued. "And well, like the deputy said I noticed something."

"What was it?" Lisbon prompted.

Mrs. Lopez paused. "You've got to understand, Mr. Church was very organized," she told them.

"We know; we saw his bookshelves," Jane supplied.

Mrs. Lopez nodded, "Oh. Okay then. He didn't have a disorder or anything, but with Joe everything had to be exactly in its place. Everything. Even the papers _within_ a file. There was a certain order he liked to keep them in. I've been working for him long enough that I put things in that order without even thinking. But I noticed something when I was going back through some of the files; all the individual papers were there..."

"But they were out of order," Lisbon guessed.

"Exactly," she told her. "Just some of them, and not always the same ones each time. But someone was in those files, someone other than me or Mr. Church. I wrote down a list of the ones I found that had been opened," she added, handing Lisbon a piece of paper. "It's well, it's most of our more important clients."

Lisbon scanned the list quickly. "It certainly is," she agreed. "Thank you very much Mrs. Lopez, this is extremely helpful."

"Anything to help catch the piece of scum that did this," the woman said. "I worked at the firm for Mr. Church for almost twenty years Agent Lisbon, and Joe and Clem, they were good people. Clara too. I really hope she's okay. I know what people are probably saying, and I know what it looks like, but I'm telling you Agent Lisbon, Clara Greenwood had nothing to do with this."

"Right now we just want to talk to her," Lisbon assured the other woman. "We do need to find out what happened, and if she knows anything about it."

"Well good," Mrs. Lopez said. "I'm going to go back to those files now if you don't mind. I'll let you know if I find any more that have been touched."

"I appreciate that," Lisbon told her. "Thank you again Mrs. Lopez."

Lisbon waited until the woman was out of sight before speaking. "Well that was interesting," she said to the others."

"Looks like information theft may have been the motive," Cho supplied.

"But then why kill either partner?" Rigsby asked.

"Maybe he caught them in the act and then he had to get rid of them," Van Pelt suggested.

"That's possible," Rigsby said. "But if that's the case then why is Clara Greenwood missing? Think she's in on it?"

"Maybe, but stealing from her own firm?" Van Pelt asked.

"Hey you can make a lot of money selling the right kind of information about the right people to the tabloids," Cho told her.

"True," Van Pelt agreed. "What do you think Jane?" she asked.

"I think," Jane told her, "That we should all go for lunch. And then afterwards we should go and see if we can find Clara and ask her."

"Spoilsport," Rigsby told him. "Hey!" he said suddenly. "Are you two going to ditch us and go off on your own again?" he asked, gesturing between Jane and Lou. The two of them shared a look but didn't say anything. "What were you two doing off on your own last night anyway?" Rigsby asked with a grin.

"We went for a walk," Jane replied.

"A walk?" Rigsby asked, clearly not believing him.

"Yes Rigsby, a walk," Jane confirmed. "Lou offered to show me around, so I could get the lay of the land so to speak. I figured it was better than deciding I wanted to go for a midnight snack and ending up lost halfway across town. You should be thanking her. Her little tour might end up preventing me from having to call you in the middle of the night to come and find me."

"And that's all it was?" Rigsby double checked.

"That's all," Jane told him.

"Whatever," Rigsby told him. "Seriously though, who's up for Mexican?"

Lisbon and Van Pelt shared a look before wordless grabbing their purses and leaving the station ignoring the bickering behind them.

xxxxx

About an hour and a half later two SUV's pulled up in front of rambling house on the beach.

Lisbon got out of the first one. "Alright, Rigsby, Cho, you take the backdoor. I'm not anticipating any trouble, but there's always a chance Clara might try to run if she's here. The rest of us'll try the front.

Her two male agents nodded and headed around back. Lisbon and Van Pelt started up the path, the other two behind them. Somewhere along the way Jane was distracted by something in the garden, and the Sheriff was only too willing to ask him what it was. Lisbon ignored them and headed directly for the door.

Lisbon knocked on the door of the house. She was mildly surprised when a man answered. "Hi, my name is Agent Teresa Lisbon with the California Bureau of Investigation. I'm looking for Clara Greenwood, is she here?" she asked him.

"Why? What's she done?" he asked.

"I'm sorry sir; I can't release that information at this time. Is she here?"

"Well..." he trailed off.

"Sir, we have a warrant to search the property for any sign of Ms. Greenwood or any other evidence that pertains to a double homicide we're investigating," she added, holding up the piece of paper.

The man hesitated.

Suddenly a voice from the inside drifted out, "Who is it Harry?"

"Ms. Greenwood?" Lisbon asked, stepping inside. The woman looked suddenly terrified. "There's no need to be alarmed Ms. Greenwood," Lisbon assured her. "I'm Agent Teresa Lisbon. I'm with the California Bureau of Investigation. We've been looking for you. We need to ask you a few questions." When the woman paused Lisbon added, "If you're thinking about running I should warn you I have agents posted at your back door and we have a warrant."

"Okay, I'm sorry." She said. "I know I've been stupid. I should have gone to the police right away, but I was scared."

"Why were you scared?" Lisbon asked, putting her badge away.

The woman looked at her like she was an idiot, "Because Clem and Joe were dead, and I was worried I was next!"

It was at this point in the conversation when Jane finally decided to make an appearance. "Harry!" he said in recognition.

"Patrick?" the unknown man who'd answered the door replied, clearly shocked.

Lisbon pinched the skin between her eyes. Harry. Jane's friend. Well, _of course_ he was. She could almost feel her headache coming back.

xxxxx

TBC

Okay, this one was a bit of cliffy again, but I'm updating once a day so I really don't think you guys can complain.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: So glad everyone liked the last one. I have spent a lovely day at the theatre (I'm sure you all care very much), but I'm now in such a good mood that I decided to post the next chapter early. Also, it's one of the more interesting ones and I wanted to post it, so there.

Also, someone asked me if Jane was still wearing his ring in this one. I hadn't really thought. I had no real intention of dealing with the issue of his wife. I suppose in the back of my head I was thinking that (since this takes place at some nebulous time in the future) sometime in either the past year, or previous, he's gotten some closure on that front. The reader is welcome to think what they like.

And without further ado, here we go:

xxxxx

Chapter 6

xxxxx

"Alright, everybody inside," Lisbon ordered the assembled group. Clearly explanations were in order, but she wasn't about to listen to, or make any, standing in the doorway. So she hustled everyone into the living room, which appeared to be just off the front door and had Van Pelt go and get Rigsby and Cho from the back.

When everybody was settled she continued, "Alright, introductions. Like I said, I'm Agent Teresa Lisbon, California Bureau of Investigation. These are Agents Rigsby, Cho and Van Pelt and Sheriff Granger. Already familiar to at least one of you is Patrick Jane, he's consulting on the case," she told them.

"Clara Greenwood," the woman waved timidly.

"Harry Cornish," the other man introduced himself. "I'm an old friend of Patrick's, haven't seen him in _years_ though."

"They actually already knew that," Jane told him cheerfully. "Sophie told them. I'll explain later," he added when Harry just looked confused.

"Alright," Lisbon said, taking control of the conversation again. "I'm sorry Mr. Cornish, but you're going to have to catch up with Jane after we're through here. You three," she said gesturing to her employees. "Why don't you go talk to Mr. Cornish out on the porch," she asked. "Get a statement."

"Sure thing boss," Van Pelt said as she gestured for the man to go first. "After you Mr. Cornish, if you don't mind."

Jane turned to Lisbon, "Uh, Lisbon..."

"Jane, I can't let you question an old friend," she told him quietly. "I'm sure it's probably all a coincidence and he's done nothing wrong. I promise; you can talk to him later. Right now I need you in here."

Surprisingly Jane seemed to accept that. He took a step back towards one of the walls and began examining the objects around them, leaving Lisbon to do the questioning.

She was more than happy to comply. "Sorry for the intrusion Ms. Greenwood," she said softly. "We weren't sure what we'd find."

"Clara," the other woman said. "I understand. Um, would you like to sit?" she asked.

Lisbon and the Sheriff both took a seat along with the previously missing lawyer. Unsurprisingly Jane did not.

"We're also probably going to have to take a look around," Lisbon told her. "We have a warrant."

"That's fine," Clara said with a wave of her hand.

"Alright," Lisbon said, noticing that their potential suspect still looked absolutely terrified, "Let's start with an easy question. How do you know Mr. Cornish?" she asked.

Clara looked surprised. "Harry?" she asked. "He's a friend. He'd dropped by to see how I was."

"Just a friend?" Jane asked.

The woman blushed slightly. "A close friend then," she amended. "It's so hard to classify those things sometimes. Does it matter?"

"No," Lisbon told her. "Did he know the police were looking for you?" she asked.

"Well, I certainly didn't tell him!" Clara exclaimed. "I suppose it's possible he found out on his own, but I don't think he owns a television, so he may not have heard the news."

"Okay," Lisbon said, somewhat relieved. If Jane's friend genuinely knew nothing at all about what was going on it would make her day just that much easier. "Clara, earlier you said you were scared."

"Yes," she confirmed quietly.

"Because both of your law partners were dead," Lisbon added.

"Yes."

"Clara, how did you find out they were dead? You couldn't have heard about it on the news that night. The information was kept quiet news until long after you should have been in the office the next day. Besides, you were gone by the morning." Lisbon pointed out.

Ms. Greenwood paused, took a breath, then looked Lisbon right in the eye. "Because I was there. I saw it," she told them.

"You were there?" Lisbon repeated. Even Jane looked surprised at that revelation.

"Yes. Well, what happened was Joe had called both of us, Clem and me, the night before and asked us to meet him at the office after hours the next day. He needed to talk to us about something, something important, and that was the soonest the three of us were free."

"Did he say what the meeting was about?" Lisbon asked.

"He said that he'd caught one of the secretaries going through files that they shouldn't have been looking at. Agent Lisbon we share an office, but we all have our own cases and our own secretaries. Don't get me wrong, occasionally one of the other secretaries will lend a hand if someone's particularly swamped, but it doesn't happen all that often."

"Joe caught one of the secretaries in the wrong office so to speak," Lisbon supplied.

"I think so," Clara said with a nod. "I didn't exactly get all the details," she admitted. "We were supposed to talk about it that night. Anyway, obviously whoever it was needed to be fired, but there was also the possibility that some sensitive information from one or more of the case files had already been compromised. That was why Joe thought we'd better meet and come up with some sort of plan of atack."

"Did he tell you which of the secretaries it was?" Lisbon asked.

"No," Clara admitted. "But I think he mentioned he caught them in _his_ office, so I doubt it was Tina. She worked for Joe you know."

"It wasn't her," Jane confirmed. "Rock solid alibi."

"Of course you'd already know that," Clara murmured. "Anyway, I was running late. I knew Joe was planning on spending the night at the office and that Clem was going to meet him there. I let myself in and I didn't bother to turn on the light. I knew the place back to front anyway, could walk through it blindfolded. When I got to the bottom of the stairs I heard something. It was Clem. He was upstairs, and I heard him accuse someone of killing Joe. Next thing I knew Clem had fallen down the stairs and he wasn't moving."

"Then what did you do?" Lisbon asked softly.

"I ran," Clara admitted. "I saw someone moving at the top of the stairs, but before he could get to me I ran out the door and drove away."

"You didn't see who it was?" Lisbon asked.

"Not clearly," she admitted. "Like I said it was dark. All I remember is seeing Clem go down those stairs," she said with a sob.

Lisbon gave the poor woman a moment to collect herself.

"I know running was stupid," Clara added. "I know. I should have gone to the authorities that night. But I wasn't thinking straight. My imagination was running wild. I figured no one would believe my story and they'd think I did it. Then all I could think about were all those stupid movie adaptations of all those John Grisham novels. You know, the ones where the naive, idealistic lawyer gets in over their head and someone tried to kill them. Before I could stop myself I was picturing people tapping my phone and stalking me at my apartment. Then my picture was on the news; and I figured I must have looked so guilty that I'd almost guaranteed no one would believe me. I knew no one from the office knew exactly where my aunt's place was. Besides Joe and Clem of course. And the last name on mailbox is different so it wouldn't have been easy to find. So I just hid. I've barely left the house in three days. All I can think about is whoever it was coming after me, the last remaining partner."

"You weren't kidding about that overactive imagination," Jane told her.

Lisbon glared at him, but surprisingly Clara laughed. "I know it's a bit of a curse," she admitted.

"Alright," Lisbon said. "You said you were running late when you arrived. Late from where? What were you doing immediately before you went to the law firm?"

"I, I was at the movies," Clara told them.

"Is there anyone who can verify that?" Lisbon asked.

"Yes," she said, her eyes lighting up. "Harry! I was with Harry."

"I'm going to need the name of the movie so we can confirm that with him," Lisbon told her.

xxxxx

Ten minutes later Lisbon pulled Jane aside. "Well, their stories match and Harry's confirmed her alibi," she told him.

"Well that's hardly surprising," Jane told her. "They could have come up with the plan together before we got here."

"Could have," Lisbon agreed. "But I don't know. You really think she's lying?"

"Absolutely not," Jane told her. "She's telling the truth. I'm positive."

Lisbon raised her eyebrows.

"I'm 90% sure," he amended.

"One of the two secretaries would make sense. They'd know about Church's diabetes, they'd know where everything was in the office, know who the important clients were," Lisbon added.

"Plus Joe catching someone in his office matches the files that Mrs. Lopez found with pages out of order," Jane told her. "How else would Clara have known the pages were out of order and used it to frame someone if the story wasn't true."

"Well, she'd know about it if she'd done it herself," Lisbon pointed out. "If she worked with him there's no way she didn't know how fastidious Church was about his files."

"But if that's the case then why not make sure to put everything back the right way in the first place?" Jane asked. "Besides, Clara Greenwood hardly looks like she's hard up for money. Why would she risk losing her license selling the stuff?"

"True," Lisbon said. "Okay, so which of the other two secretaries do we think it is?" Lisbon asked. "Mrs. Lopez is in the clear; her alibi's solid, but neither of the other two have alibis to speak of."

"Gotta be Jenkins," Jane told her. "Rigsby said he didn't think Mrs. Lopez liked him."

"Come on Jane," Lisbon told him, "We have to at least consider Agnes Brown. She is the newest employee at the firm."

Jane started to wave her off when he got a look at the set of her jaw. Thinking the better of it he tried a different tack, "Clara," he called across the room suddenly. "What'd you think of Agnes? Think she could be responsible? She was relatively new to the firm after all."

Clara Greenwood looked genuinely shocked by the suggestion. "Agnes?" she asked. "No, I don't believe it. I mean, I guess it's possible... But, no. She may be new to our firm Mr. Jane but she's been a legal secretary for over ten years. Her references were glowing. Besides, Joe's known... well, _knew_ I guess, her personally for at least as long. I don't believe it."

"See?" Jane told Lisbon.

"Now we're arresting people based on gut feelings of those with personal relationships with our suspects are we?" Lisbon asked sarcastically.

"Fine," Jane told her. "Clara," he asked again. "If Agnes hadn't been working for the firm that long, do you know if she knew about Mr. Church's diabetes?"

Clara paused, "I'm not sure. I don't think she did. I mean, it's not like he advertises the fact that he has it. I know I didn't tell her."

"What about the other two?" Jane asked. "Did they know?"

"Well, Tina Lopez, Joe's secretary certainly knew, in case of emergencies. And a couple years ago Richard, that's Clem's secretary, he filled in for Tina for about a month, so I'm sure he knew as well."

Jane turned back to Lisbon. She merely crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.

"Not good enough? You want more proof then?" Jane asked. "Rigsby!" he called.

"Yeah?" the agent shouted back.

"You interviewed Agnes Brown didn't you?" Jane asked him.

"Yeah," Rigsby confirmed. "Why?"

"Think she could have punched a man in the head hard enough to knock him down the stairs?" Jane asked.

"Agnes?" Rigsby double checked. "Unlikely. The woman was barely five feet tall, and I doubt she weighed more than 110 pounds. I mean, unless she's trained in some sorta weird martial arts..."

"See," Jane told Lisbon, cutting off the rest of Rigsby's theory, "Totally got to be Jenkins."

"Jane, I agree that Jenkins is more likely," Lisbon admitted. "But right now all we have is circumstantial evidence! We can't just go and arrest him. We need to search for some more concrete proof before we move. We'll pull his financials and look for any evidence of bribery. Need I remind you that there is procedure for this sort of thing?

Jane and Lou shared a private look at that, but Lisbon decided to ignore it.

"Alright," Jane said. "What if I could lure Jenkins into confessing to the murder?"

"How?" Lisbon demanded.

"What if Jenkins found out where Clara was and that she was talking?" Jane asked. "Then when he shows up to kill her, we catch him in the act and he confesses."

"Absolutely not!" Lisbon snapped. "We are not using an innocent woman as bait," she told him.

"We'd be here the whole time," Jane insisted. "And Clara wouldn't need to actually..."

"No Jane," Lisbon insisted. "This is already a potential political nightmare. We absolutely cannot afford for this guy to get off on a stupid technicality. We do this the right way, we check his bank statements, search his home. We'll get him; it'll just take longer."

"But..." Jane interrupted.

"No," Lisbon told him firmly before walking away.

Jane sighed.

Lou walked up to him from where she'd been surreptitiously listening to their conversation. "So," she asked him. "If we were going to do that, what would we need?"

Jane's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

xxxxx

Lisbon watched as Clara Greenwood rolled away in the back of a squad car. The woman was going back to the city to give a statement then she'd remain under police supervision for the next few days. After all, either she was lying, in which case she was in on the murders, or she was telling the truth, in which case her life was probably in danger. Lisbon had also stressed to both officers and to Clara herself the importance of laying low. If no one knew where she was then Jenkins wouldn't be able to find her. She'd be back at her aunt's house the next day.

The rest of the team was planning on spending the evening by the sea. Jane really wanted to catch up with his old friend and Lisbon felt bad about saying no. Besides, they were again waiting for yet another warrant, along with phone records and bank statements for Richard Jenkins.

As a result the six of them plus one were at a local pub for dinner. The place was packed, though the hostess promised them a table in ten minutes tops. The group decided to wait for her by the bar. As promised the hostess came back for them about five minutes later, and the seven of them tried to follow her as she weaved around the tables and the other patrons. Rigsby, in what Lisbon figured was a not so subtle attempt to grab a seat next to Van Pelt, managed to trip over an empty chair. This forced Lisbon, in an attempt to avoid tripping over Rigsby, to spin rapidly in the other direction. Unfortunately she spun a little too rapidly and completely lost her balance. Before she could hit the floor (or another table) Lisbon felt someone grab her arms and help her back on her feet. Looking up she saw a pair of warm dark eyes.

"Oops," the stranger said to her. "Careful now."

"Thanks," she stuttered in confusion.

He smiled, "No problem. Couldn't let a pretty woman like you end up on the floor. I hope you enjoy your dinner." Then he gave her a half a wave, and before she knew it he was gone.

Lisbon sat down at the table quickly, and when Van Pelt asked she laughed off the encounter then abruptly changed the subject by asking Rigsby if he was alright. When she glanced around the table seconds later Lisbon noticed Jane watching her from across the table, a strange expression on his face. She looked away confused without meeting his eyes.

Lisbon didn't know why she was so flustered by the whole thing anyway. She'd already scanned the restaurant, and the stranger, whoever he was, was gone.

Despite the kerfuffle at the start, the meal itself went smoothly. Everyone's mood seemed to have improved now that a potential solution to the case was in sight. Plus Jane's friend Harry turned out to be quite the storyteller. He had the six of them laughing more than once. At the moment he and Jane were deep in discussion about the pros and cons of different types of boats, with occasional input from Cho. Lou was listening with interest, sometimes turning to add her two cents to Rigsby and Van Pelt's conversation about football. For the most part Lisbon was content to just sit back and soak it all in. She answered questions when they were directed to her, but seeing her people relaxed and happy soothed her. It was her own little moment of calm.

As if on cue, her phone rang.

Sighing she fished it out of her pocket.

She groaned when she saw the caller ID.

"Something wrong boss?" Cho asked her.

She shook her head, "Nah, just Hightower interrupting dinner," she told him. "I've got to take this, excuse me."

Then with a hand over one ear and her phone at the other she made her way to the door. "Ma'am?" she said. "I see you got my message. I may have good news."

xxxxx

When she returned to the table about fifteen minutes later she found it rather more subdued and short a few people.

"Where'd everybody go?" she asked as she sat back down.

"Harry's at the bar," Van Pelt told her. "Jane and Lou both disappeared separately about ten minutes ago. We haven't seen either of them since."

"Maybe they've gone for another _walk,_" Rigsby suggested.

Cho sniggered and Van Pelt rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on," Rigsby said. "It's obvious. And I totally saw Lou catch his eye when she got up to leave," he added.

Van Pelt started arguing that they really had no proof at all that Lou and Jane were even together. And if they were, it really could be something innocent.

Lisbon ignored them; something was niggling at the back of her mind and wouldn't stop. Jane and Lou had been sharing significant looks all evening. She'd originally thought it was just a continuation of whatever flirtation the two of them had going on, but for some reason now she wasn't so sure. It'd started not long after they'd left Clara's house. Right after Jane had come up with his insane scheme. She froze. And Lou had been very eager to see Jane in action for the entire case. Plus, Lisbon had accidentally overheard the sheriff's opinions on protocol herself. "Oh God," she said suddenly, praying that she was wrong.

That got everybody's attention. "Boss," Rigsby asked in concern. "Is something wrong?"

Lisbon snapped back to life immediately. "Jane and Lou, they're trying to lure out Jenkins," she told them.

"What?" Van Pelt asked. "Boss, you don't..."

"I know it sounds insane," Lisbon interrupted. "But think about it, they both disappear, they've been acting all chummy and secretive for the last few hours. Jane had a plan earlier, to use Clara as bait to catch Jenkins. I shot it down, but we've all seen what Lou thinks of any idea of Jane's!" The more she thought about it the more she was sure she was right. "We've got to get back to that house," she exclaimed.

"Lisbon," Van Pelt tried again, "I know it looks bad, but are you really sure?"

"Look," Lisbon told her, "If I'm wrong, we go over and check it out, no harm no foul, but if I'm right and we do nothing someone could end up getting hurt."

"You're right," Cho told her. "They're definitely up to something. If it was just sex why wait until Lisbon left the table to sneak off?"

"Right," Lisbon said, "Cho you're with me, you two stay here," she told Rigsby and Van Pelt.

"Shouldn't we all go?" Rigsby asked.

Lisbon shook her head. "No, I need you two to get a hold of the deputies who took Clara home. We need to make sure she's alright. And I also need you to see if you can get a hold of Jenkins. We need to try and figure out where he is. Oh, and try Jane and Lou just in case they pick up. See if you can talk them out of this. And I also need you to stay here, on the off chance I'm wrong and they come wandering back in ten minutes. Hopefully we'll be back soon," she told them.

Suddenly Lisbon heard a voice behind her. "I'm coming with you," Harry told her.

Lisbon was about to refuse when he cut her off. "Look Agent Lisbon, you seem like a perfectly nice woman, but I was friends with Patrick Jane for years. Do you really think ordering me to stay put is going to have any effect whatsoever? And you know if there's trouble to get into in a five mile radius Patrick'll find it. I'd rather that one of my oldest friends didn't get himself hurt or worse, the first day I see him in five years. Besides, you might need my help, I know the area."

Lisbon hesitated, "Fine." She told him. "You can come, but only if you do exactly what I say when we get there. And you're staying in the car."

"Agreed," he told her. "I can show you a back way to Clara's place if you want."

"I do. Let's go," she told him. "See you guys soon," she told Rigsby and Van Pelt..

"Good luck," Van Pelt called after her.

"I'm hoping we won't need it," Lisbon muttered to herself. If Jane was doing what she thought he was doing she was going to kill him herself when she found him. Very slowly.

xxxxx

Meanwhile, Jane and Lou were indeed hiding on opposite sides of Clara Greenwood's porch. They had their cell phones of course, but Jane was beginning to feel just the slightest bit uneasy. Usually whenever he and Lisbon had done something this they'd had back-up. And if they hadn't, well, it was _Lisbon. _Still, the familiar rush of a well-played con was running through his veins, so he ignored his misgivings.

He felt his cell phone vibrate in his hand. He double checked the caller ID to make sure it was Lou. Van Pelt had called a few minutes ago, no doubt to try and find out where he was. Jane hadn't answered. "Hey," he whispered into the phone. "You see anything yet?"

"No," she told him. "You?"

"No," Jane replied. "Maybe he's not gonna show."

"Oh he'll be here," Lou told him. "His curiosity'll get the better of him. And he thinks Clara's here."

"I tried to tell Lisbon that we wouldn't need to actually use Clara as bait; we just needed to pretend, but she wouldn't let me," Jane muttered petulantly.

Lou shrugged, though he couldn't see it. "Like you said before, Agent Lisbon's hardly the type to go along with something like this."

A fact that Jane hardly found comforting at the moment. Before he could reply he heard Lou speak again. "Good thing you got the idea to call Jenkins early, then call her boss and tell her what time Lisbon would be available to talk as a distraction. I feel kinda bad for her," Lou added, "Having to answer to all those people all the time. You must love being out of that world."

"Yeah, well," Jane started to reply, "It had it's advantages..."

Suddenly Lou interrupted him, "Wait, did you hear that?" she asked.

"No, what?" he whispered.

"Hold on," she told him. "I'm gonna go and check it out."

"Wait!" Jane told her; he had a really bad feeling about this now.

But she'd hung up the phone. Jane strained to hear, and tried to move towards where she'd been. Suddenly he heard the sound of a scuffle, followed by a man's yell. Jane rounded the corner of the house in time to see Lou fall to the ground and Jenkins pull a gun from behind him, "I've already killed two people, what's one more?" he asked. Then he raised the weapon and fired. Half a second later a second shot rang out. In shock, Jane saw Jenkins fall; Lisbon, of all people, was running towards him, Cho close behind.

"Check Jenkins," Lisbon ordered Cho quickly.

"I got him covered," Cho told her, his gun trained on the killer. "You help the Sheriff."

Lisbon holstered her own weapon and dropped to her knees, relieved to see that Lou was still breathing. She took off her coat and applied pressure to the wound. "Hi Sheriff, don't you worry. We're gonna get you out of here. Just stay awake okay." Lou nodded. Giving the woman a terse smile Lisbon looked around her. "Jane!" she called. "You alright? You want to give me a hand here?"

Jane turned towards her, but he couldn't seem to make himself move.

"Jane!" she tried again, determined to keep her wits about her, "I need you to call for help," she said. She didn't want to take the pressure off the wound and Cho was busy making sure Jenkins was no longer a threat. She knew Jane was probably in shock, but he was the only one left able to make the call.

Jane stared at the phone in his hand.

"Jane!" she yelled again, "If you can't call for help then I need you to go get Harry. We left him in the car..."

At that moment Harry ran up. "I know you told me to stay in the car," he said, "But I heard the shots and, Oh god..."

"Harry!" Lisbon told him calmly, taking control of the situation. "I need you to call 911. Tell them we're with the CBI. We've got two gunshot victims, one of whom was shot in the lower abdomen on the left side. She's lost some blood, but she's conscious and I've got pressure on the wound. The other," she said, pausing to look at Cho.

"A doctor's not going to help him boss," Cho told her.

Lisbon nodded, refusing to focus on the fact that she'd killed yet another person. Instead she let the sound of Harry speaking to the paramedics wash over her.

About a minute later she heard him behind her. "They're on their way," he told her. "But it'll probably take them a while to get here, unless we're lucky and there was an ambulance in the area. Nearest ER's over half an hour away," he told her. "But Doc Reynolds lives just down the street. He's retired, but he knows his stuff and he's here for the summer."

"Call him," Lisbon told him. "Then come and help me with this."

"I got it," Cho told her as he placed his hands over hers. "Nothing anybody can do for Jenkins at the moment anyway. Go talk to Jane," he told her, gesturing towards the still-frozen consultant. "I'll keep Lou company for a while."

"You sure?" Lisbon asked.

Cho nodded, then he turned to the woman. "Some night," he said to her. "But we're going to get you out of here. Don't you worry, Lisbon's got it covered. She won't _let_ you die."

"What can I do," Harry asked her as he hung up the phone again.

"Do you have a key to Clara's place?" Lisbon asked him.

"I know where the spare's hidden," he told her.

"I need you to go inside and get some blankets. We need to keep her warm. And if you could find something better to help stop the bleeding. Oh, and after that I need you to call Rigsby and Van Pelt and tell them what happened. Tell them there's nothing they can do here, but we may need the second vehicle later. And one of them will have to call Hightower."

"Okay," he told her as he ran towards the house.

Lisbon squared her shoulders and walked towards Jane. "Hey Jane," she said, touching his arm.

He flinched then turned towards her. "Lisbon," he croaked. "I... We..."

"Jane," she said gently. He was white as a sheet. She was worried he'd start hyperventilating, or collapse, and that was the last thing she needed. "You're in shock. I'm gonna need you to sit down and put your head between your knees. Can you do that for me?"

Jane blinked at her a couple of times before doing as she said.

"Okay," she told him, "Now I need you take nice deep breaths."

Jane nodded. "Help her," he told her.

"Help's on the way," she told him soothingly. "Cho's with her now. She's gonna be fine."

"I'll be okay Lisbon," he told her. She was relieved to hear his voice sounded stronger. "Please, just go and help..."

"Okay," she agreed. "But only if you promise to stay here and keep breathing."

Jane nodded into his knees.

Lisbon put her hand on his shoulder briefly before jogging back over to Cho. "How is she?" she asked.

"I'm worried she's going to lose consciousness," Cho told her

Lisbon took the other woman's hand. "Hey Lou, look at me, look at me. It's Agent Lisbon, remember?"

"You called me Lou," she said surprised.

Lisbon grinned, taking that as a good sign. "I thought it seemed appropriate under the circumstances," she told the sheriff.

"Agent Lisbon... I's stupid." Lou slurred.

"Don't worry about it right now," Lisbon told her. "You were just trying to solve the case okay? Everyone will understand that. All you need to worry about is staying awake. "

"Still..." Lou whispered. "I went over your head, and you tol' me not to."

"Shh..." Lisbon hushed her. "Don't worry about it."

"Was still stupid..." Lou replied.

"Hey come on," Lisbon said. "You couldn't have known. And it took me a few cases before I learned that you never say yes to Jane's first scheme. Second one's always much safer. Plus you hit some bad luck. We had no idea Jenkins even owned a gun. This was nobody's fault."

"Okay," Lou said her eyes closing slightly.

"Look at me Lou," Lisbon ordered. "You ever been shot before?"

"No."

"Hurts like a bitch doesn't it?" Lisbon told her. "But don't you worry, we've called the paramedics and they're on your way. And when you get to the hospital they'll give you the _good _drugs."

"Really?" Lou asked, trying to keep up with the conversation.

"That's right." Lisbon said. "Look at me Lou, focus. There we go. How long you been Sheriff?"

"Be six months next Tuesday."

"Well that's exciting," Lisbon replied. "Can't miss that anniversary can you?"

"Guess not," Lou whispered.

"No," Lisbon agreed.

How she managed to keep up the conversation until the paramedics arrived Lisbon never quite knew. The retired doctor Harry'd called arrived a few minutes before the ambulance and managed to help Cho to slow the blood loss. Between the three of them they managed to keep Lou conscious until the paramedics got there.

Then Lisbon had to give a statement and deal with the rest of it. She eventually told Cho to head back to the hotel with Rigsby and Van Pelt. Lisbon knew she was going to have to be the one to force Jane to go to the hospital. The idiot was still arguing with the paramedics.

"Jane!" she barked. "You're going to the hospital and that's final," she ordered.

"Lisbon I'm fine," he started to say.

"Jane!" she repeated, fully prepared to badger him into it. Then she noticed how lost he looked and she sighed. He may have decided to end their friendship, but that had never been her choice. Seeing him vulnerable and alone, all the old affection came rushing back. "I can go with you if you want," she offered softly.

Jane stared at her for a minute. Lisbon began to worry he wouldn't respond at all; then finally, he nodded once.

xxxxx

TBC

Next one's up tomorrow!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I have to say, I'm enjoying the reviews strongly siding with Lisbon. They're entertaining me. Hopefully this chapter balances things a bit more. It may be my favourite.

xxxxx

Chapter 7

xxxxx

_Approximately two days later..._

xxxxx

Patrick Jane was driving Harry's beat up old pickup truck back to Sacramento.

His friend was apparently heading to the city in the next couple of days for business reasons and he'd told Jane he'd get the truck back then.

Jane had to admit it was certainly change from the Citroen.

But then a lot had changed in the last few days.

Ever since that horrible night. Jane shivered slightly in the California sun. He didn't think he'd ever forget the sight of Jenkins shooting Lou. The whole thing had been his fault; it was something else he'd have to live with.

If it hadn't been for Lisbon...

Lisbon.

She'd arrived at the crucial moment and somehow managed to save the day. He'd been an absolute wreck, completely frozen. Not Lisbon though. She'd just gotten it done. She'd taken control in a second, helped Lou, helped him, directed Harry and Cho, her little army of two. Everything that could have possibly been done was.

She was like his own little guardian angel (albeit a particularly stubborn one). It seemed that even after a year her Jane's-in-trouble-radar was still in good working order.

A year.

It'd been a year since he'd seen the woman. The same person who, for as long as he'd known her, had always managed to arrive at exactly the right moment. And he hadn't spoken to her in a year. All because he'd been too busy being an idiot.

And after everything, after he'd basically ignored what she'd told him, defied her yet again, when by rights she should have been furious with him, she'd gone with him to the hospital.

Because she'd known he needed her.

He doesn't remember much of the drive there. When he arrived he was poked and prodded at by the nurses until they told him he would be fine once he got over the initial shock, but he was firmly instructed to take it easy for the next couple of hours. He heard Lisbon ensure the nurse that she'd take care of it. He wasn't sure exactly how she did it, but she got them to release him into her care without anyone even asking his opinion.

Not that Jane objected. He was perfectly willing to let Lisbon make the rest of the evening's decisions. Clearly his own choices couldn't be relied on.

When they were back on their own he felt her push a warm drink into his hand.

He looked down at it stupidly before he turned his eyes back up to her face.

"Tea," she told him with a smile. "I know the quality's probably terrible, but it's better than nothing, and I did put the milk in first."

He managed a half a smile in thanks at that.

"Come on," she told him, taking him by the arm. "Lou's in surgery upstairs. Last I heard the doctors were optimistic. There's a waiting room."

He nodded, not even questioning that she'd already known what he wanted.

When they got to the waiting room Jane wasn't particularly surprised to see Rigsby and Van Pelt already there.

"Hey," Van Pelt said softly as she stood, when she saw them. "How are you?" she asked him.

"Fine," he told her quickly. "How is she?"

"Doctor was out a while ago," Rigsby said. "Somehow the bullet managed not to hit anything vital. They're finishing up now. Not sure if they're going to let anyone in tonight, or wait until tomorrow."

"Her parents will be here first thing in the morning," Van Pelt told Lisbon. "And Cho's back at the station taking care of everything and getting people up to speed. Clara Greenwood's been informed of what happened. I think she's going to stay with friends in the city for a couple of days."

"Good," Lisbon told her. "Thanks guys. Nice work. Why don't you two head back to the hotel, I can stick around for a while. We don't all need to be sleep deprived. I'll call you if there's any change."

"You sure?" Van Pelt asked.

"Yeah, we don't mind staying," Rigsby added.

"I'm sure," she said. "We don't need a crowd of people here," she said gesturing to Jane. Van Pelt nodded. Suddenly Lisbon realized something and she grasped the other woman's wrist lightly. "Unless you want to," she added. "I know you two were friends."

Van Pelt shook her head. "No, you're right," she told Lisbon. "Some of us should get some sleep." And they both knew that even if Grace had offered to stay, Lisbon certainly wasn't about to leave. "I'll see Lou in the morning."

"Okay," Lisbon said.

Suddenly Jane felt Rigsby clamping a hand on his shoulder, "I'm glad you're alright man," the agent told him.

"We both are," Van Pelt added with a soft smile. "Promise you'll call if you need anything," she added.

Jane had nodded quickly, "Thanks," he told them.

With one final look back they'd both left.

Wordlessly Jane and Lisbon found a pair of chairs in the corner of the room. Jane rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes. It was so easy, with Van Pelt and Rigsby acting so concerned and friendly, so easy to pretend that it was a year ago. That he was still a member of the team; that he belonged.

Had he been doing that all case, he wondered to himself. Pretending that he was still a member of Lisbon's team? That everything was still like it had been a year ago? Sliding back into the old familiar friendships with the other three agents while holding on to his anger at their boss?

He winced. He'd been angry at her for a year for using her "Jane-needs-protecting" radar, but then at the first sign of trouble since seeing her again, his life had depended on it. And not just his life, Lou's.

And a year ago, if he'd gone after Red John it wouldn't have been Lou's life potentially in danger, it would have been Lisbon's.

He was a complete and utter _idiot_.

Jane opened his eyes and glanced at the woman next to him, unsurprised to see that she was already watching him.

"This isn't your fault you know," she told him softly.

He scoffed. "Then whose fault is it?" he asked her bitterly.

"How about Jenkins?" she'd suggested. "After all, he was the one with the gun, not you."

"Don't need a gun to kill someone," Jane reminded her.

"But you do need one to shoot someone," she countered.

Jane almost smiled in spite of himself. God he'd missed her. Now that he wasn't being an idiot anymore he was finally realizing it.

"You know one of these days you're just going to have to say it," he told her.

"Say what?" she asked in confusion.

"I told you so," he replied emotionlessly.

Lisbon's breath caught in her throat. "Jane..."

"You really deserve to this time," he told her as if she hadn't spoken. "After all, you pretty much expressly told me not to do what I did."

"Yeah, well, I didn't say it to Lou, and I'm not going to say it you either," she told him. "That would be cruel."

"Maybe I deserve cruel," he told her.

"No one deserves cruel," she replied with a shake of her head. "And while I'll admit this certainly wasn't one of your finest hours, and I admit, part of me wants to punch you in the nose again..."

"Do it," Jane told her. "Please."

But she shook her head, "Too many people watching. I might get arrested. And you're still recovering. Besides, I should have known you'd go off and try to lure out Jenkins anyway, even though I'd ordered you not to. Maybe _because _I'd ordered you not to. I made a mistake too."

But Jane shook his head violently at that. "_No_," he insisted. "_You_ didn't make a mistake. Of all of us, you were the only person who didn't. If you hadn't realized when you did Lou and I'd probably both be dead. You probably saved her life." Then he took a deep breath in an attempt to calm his agitation.

"I still should have realized sooner," she told him. She couldn't help thinking that if only she'd figured it out five minutes earlier, if only she'd tied Jane to his chair while she took the phone call. If _she_ felt that way she could only imagine what Jane was going through. It was why she refused to yell. Too much like kicking a puppy when he was down. Besides, despite their disagreement, she did know Jane. She really _should_ have known what was coming.

"Not your job to do that anymore," he told her softly, as if he was reading her thoughts.

Lisbon had been reaching to put her hand on his arm in an attempt to give comfort. At his words it froze midway there and dropped into her lap. For the first time since they'd arrived at the hospital she was quite literally speechless.

"Lisbon," he said suddenly, and she was surprised by the emotion in his voice. He shook his head and turned towards her, looking her right in the eye. "I'm sorry. I was an idiot."

She did put her hand on his forearm then. "Jane, it was bad luck okay? No one could have known how it would go. Lou went with you willingly; you know she did. And without even trying I can think of at least three times that two of us did something at least as stupid when we were working together. Remember that time in Santa Cruz with the drug dealer? Or that time with the axe-wielding psychopath? Both of those could have gone down a hell of a lot differently. Guess we always got lucky and things worked out. You and Lou didn't."

"I don't think it was just luck," Jane murmured dryly. "But I didn't mean I was sorry for tonight, though I am."

"Hm?" she asked.

"I meant a year ago," he clarified.

Her eyes widened as Teresa Lisbon was struck dumb for the second time in ten minutes.

Jane looked like he was going to continue when they were interrupted by a doctor.

"Agent Lisbon?" he asked.

She turned quickly towards him. "Yes Doctor?" she asked.

He almost smiled. "We just finished with Sheriff Granger," he told her. "She was extremely lucky. She'd lost a lot of blood, but she should make a full recovery. It'll just take some time. You'll be able to see her shortly if you want. But it'll have to be a brief visit," the doctor stressed.

"Thank you," she told him, clearly relieved.

"I'll send a nurse for you when she's out of recovery," he told them before he left them.

Jane collapsed back into one of the chairs in relief.

"There now," Lisbon told him. "Didn't I tell you everything'd be okay?" she asked him.

"Actually, I'm not sure that you did," he told her after a moment's consideration.

"Yeah, well," Lisbon muttered. "I meant too."

"I know," Jane admitted. "Hey, how did the doctor know who you were?" he asked.

She shrugged, "I dropped by up here earlier, back when you were in with the nurses downstairs, checked in with Rigsby and Van Pelt."

"Ah," he said. He should have known. She was always taking care of everything in the background. At the house, and now at the hospital. He on the other hand... He frowned. "I wasn't very good at the house earlier."

"No, not really," Lisbon admitted.

"Sorry about that," he told her.

"It's okay," she told him. "Harry was probably better anyway. He knew exactly where things were and what to tell the 911 operators. Besides, It was traumatic. Under the circumstances freezing up's a perfectly understandable reaction."

"You didn't," he told her.

"My job," she said with a shrug.

"Still..."

"I've had lots more practice with that sort of thing," she pointed out.

"I know. When you were trying to keep Lou conscious you implied you'd been shot before," Jane mentioned.

She nodded, "Twice."

He glanced over at her in alarm.

She sighed. "My job's dangerous Jane. You know that." She saw the look on his face and knew he wouldn't let it drop. "First time was before I knew you. I got hit back in San Francisco, in the leg. It was a 16 year old kid trying to prove himself to one of the local gangs. No long-term effects, though the recovery period wasn't fun. Second time was six months ago. A junkie so strung out I'm surprised he managed to hit the broad side of a barn. As it is he grazed the edge of my shoulder. I was lucky, just needed a bandage. I was back in the field a few weeks later."

Jane's eyes widened. She'd been shot. He'd been gone and she'd been shot. And from the sounds of it, it was pure luck that the bullet hadn't hit six inches lower, in which case they probably wouldn't have been able to have this conversation. He'd been busy being angry with her and she'd almost been killed. If he hadn't realized he was an idiot before he certainly would have now.

All he wanted to do was wrap his arms around her and never let her go, but he couldn't do that anymore. And it was his own damn fault.

He settled for running his hand down her arm, an action that clearly shocked her, but she smiled.

After that they stood in silence for a while, waiting for the nurse. Then they were finally allowed to see Lou. Lisbon didn't stay long, just a few minutes to wish her a good recovery. She also assured the sheriff that everything as under control and Lou wasn't to worry about anything. Then Lisbon left Jane alone with the patient, promising to wait. Jane wasn't exactly sure what he said. He definitely apologized, and he told Lou her parents were on the way. Then at her insistence he told her what happened.

"How did she know to come find us?" Lou whispered.

"It's Lisbon," Jane told her with a shrug. "She does that."

"Thank her for me would you?" Lou asked. "I doubt she'll let me."

"And you think she'll let me?" Jane asked with a twist of his lip. "But I promise to try."

Then he told her he wasn't supposed to stay long, that he was glad she was okay, and he'd be back to visit in the morning.

He joined Lisbon in the hallway. "She says thank you for saving her life," he told her.

Predictably, Lisbon waved it off, muttering something about 'the job.' "You ready to go?" she asked him. "I'll drive you back."

"I think I might stick around for a while," he told her.

"Jane, she needs her rest," Lisbon admonished.

"I know," he told her. "I'm not going to... I just don't want to leave her alone," he admitted.

Lisbon nodded recognizing the guilt in his eyes. "Do you need me to..." she started to ask.

He shook his head, "Go." He told her softly. "You've got to be dead on your feet."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yeah," he told her. "I think I just need to... I don't know..."

"I understand," she told him. "But call me if you need anything."

"I will," he promised.

"Okay," she told him. With that she turned to leave.

"Hey Lisbon?" he called after her. She turned back. "Thank you," he told her. "For everything."

She nodded, "Anytime."

He watched her all the way to the elevator.

He'd seen her briefly the next morning. She'd come by to tell Lou that the team was heading back to Sacramento. Jenkins had basically admitted to the murders before he'd been shot. Everyone was still unsure whether or not he'd actually released any confidential information, but all the relevant files were being shipped to the CBI where the team would go through them from the comfort of their own desks. Lisbon left Van Pelt to catch up with her friend, and she found Jane in the hallway.

"How you doing?" she asked softly.

He'd shot her a look.

"I know," she told him. "But I had to ask."

"I know," he replied. "I don't know," he answered honestly.

"You should stay," Lisbon told him. "Take a few days."

He looked up at her in surprise. "We don't exactly need you on the case at the moment," she pointed out. "Going through stacks of paperwork was never exactly your thing," she reminded him. "We solved the murders, now it's time for the practicalities."

"Never my specialty," Jane murmured.

"No," she agreed. "And completely apart from that you need to take some time Jane, come to terms," she informed him. "Plus, you have a couple of friends in the area. Maybe it's time to catch up."

"Maybe," he admitted.

"Good," she told him. "And right now you need to leave." He looked up. "You've been here all night Jane," she said. "At the very least you could use a shower."

He smirked. "Lisbon," he said softly.

"Go," she ordered lightly. "You know where to find me if you need me."

So he'd left. And so had she. But it was for the best. They couldn't have the conversation he wanted to have until he managed to figure out what was going on in his head. It wasn't fair to her to add his own mental confusion to her plate.

She'd gone back to Sacramento with the team and he'd crashed in Harry's spare room. Spent most of the time walking along the beach or drinking beer and watching Harry work on his boat. His old friend was surprisingly non-judgemental, even after all the time apart, and after all that had happened. Sophie too. Jane didn't know why it surprised him. The best friends were like that.

He'd gone to visit Lou a couple of times. He'd tried to apologize again, but she wouldn't let him. She wasn't angry, and she'd ordered him not to be an idiot, and to stop wallowing in guilt and feeling sorry for himself. Claimed the negative energy he was throwing off was hindering her recovery. So Jane had promised to try to let go of the guilt, for her sake.

Cho had called him once, to tell him they were back at the CBI and that they were still neck deep in files. From the sounds of it Hightower was keeping a watchful eye. Jane smirked. Lisbon must have been just thrilled.

He still hadn't spoken to Lisbon since the hospital. She hadn't called. Not that he expected her to. He knew he was going to have to be the one to make the next move.

Quite possibly the only good thing to come out of his stupidity over the past few days was his realization of Lisbon's worth. Oh, he knew he knew the realization was long-overdue, that he should have realized it months ago. But there was nothing he could do about that now.

It was working with Lou that had really driven the point home. He knew the comparison between the two women was unfair, but he couldn't help making it. Yes, working with Lou had been good for his ego. Her fascination in his abilities had been flattering, and when she'd seemed so ready to listen to every little thing he said his sense of male pride had swelled in pleasure. Having a partner in crime ready to rush into whatever he suggested at the drop of a hat had been a nice change. Someone who didn't worry about every little rule they might be breaking. It had been exciting.

But he didn't need another person like him, didn't need any more encouragement to break the rules. He needed someone to balance him, to know when his ideas got too outlandish, to stop him from stepping off the ledge. He needed Lisbon.

He'd gotten frustrated with her for it more times than he could count, but the Jenkins case had driven home the simple fact that Lisbon's innate insistence on practicality and caution was probably all that'd kept him alive for so long. And he in turn had brought out her more playful side. They'd made a good team.

And speaking of keeping him alive, once he'd had it roughly shoved in his face just how good at her job she was, everything else he'd liked about her came back as well. He remembered their friendship in vivid detail now. They'd spent some of almost every day together. He remembered the private jokes, the secret smiles, the entire days they spent together outside the office. He remembered hugging her when she was sad, feeling unbelievably privileged that she'd let him. He remembered how she'd sat up with him for hours every year on the anniversary of his family's death. He remembered trying to teach her how to bake, making sure she took time for herself from time to time, making her laugh until she couldn't speak on her couch over a bowl of popcorn... God he loved her laugh.

They'd been such good friends. It was all they could ever have been back then because of Red John. But somewhere in the back of his mind he'd always thought that if it hadn't been for the serial killer... Nothing had ever come of it of course, but the possibility had lingered in the background.

And he'd thrown it all away. Because she'd insisting on valuing his own safety (and her own) more than he did. She'd insisted on protecting him. And as he'd said, given recent events he obviously needed that. Yes, when she hadn't told him about Red John it had been a betrayal. And yes, he'd had every right to be angry. But had he honestly planned on being angry at her for the rest of his life because of one decision that he didn't agree with? He wasn't even sure it could be called a mistake. From her perspective it certainly hadn't been.

He'd told himself over and over again when he mentally railed against her for it that if she'd told him about her plan in advance he'd have been reasonable, that they could have worked something out. But could he have guaranteed that? She certainly could never have been sure. And while she hadn't let him be the one to pull the trigger, her actions had been partly responsible for Red John's death. The serial killer gone, his family avenged. Shouldn't that have been enough of a compromise for anyone?

He'd had a year to come to grips with the fact that the serial killer who'd killed the two people he'd loved more than anything was dead. And though he'd always remember his wife and daughter, in many ways he had accepted it. Had he come to grips with Lisbon's part in the matter without even realizing it?

He thought maybe he had.

Oddly enough it was Lou who'd given him the final shove he needed when he'd visited her the last time. She'd informed him that if he didn't get his ass in gear and get on with his own life she'd call in her deputies and have them kick the crap out of him.

Not an hour later he was already on the road in his borrowed vehicle watching the scenery fly by alongside him.

He smiled to himself when he saw his exit.

It turns out Lisbon had been right about one more thing.

He did know where she was. It'd just taken him a while to realize it. But he'd finally figured it out.

So he was going back to Scaramento, back to the CBI, back to her.

xxxxx

Meanwhile back at the CBI, the entire Serious Crimes Unit was still looking for some kind of evidence that Jenkins had used any of the information he'd stolen. They were going through all of Jenkins' personal effects and the mountains of paperwork at the law office to try and figure out if anything had been leaked. So far no luck. There was nothing suspicious in his bank records, no evidence of any large unexplained deposits. It was possible he had another account they didn't know about, but no one had been able to find it. There was also nothing incriminating in his house, beyond copies of some of the files he'd tampered with. So far there was no evidence whatsoever that he'd actually given any of the information to anyone.

It was possible that he hadn't actually gotten that far in his plan, but it seemed unlikely that anyone would go to all the trouble of stealing the information and murdering two people to cover it up if they didn't at least have someone in mind to give it to. Lisbon knew that Jenkins must have been planning on selling the contents of the files (some of which would have at the very least embarrassed a congressman and a prominent D.A., and she wasn't even going to get started on the local businessmen). But for all their searching, the team still had no idea who he'd been planning on selling them _to._ There were so many sources of potential leverage that it was nearly impossible to narrow down the suspect pool.

Lisbon was on her way to grab a cup of coffee when Hightower called her into her office. Lisbon had to admit she was almost hoping for a case. She wouldn't mind a break from the paperwork.

"Agent Lisbon," Hightower said when she entered, "I'd like you to meet someone. This is Special Agent Elliot. He's with the secret service. We worked together years ago. He's between assignments and dropped by for a visit at my request. I'm hoping to convince him to join our little motley crew at the CBI so I'm introducing him to some of the team leaders. Special Agent Elliot, this is Agent Lisbon. She heads up the Serious Crimes Unit."

Lisbon turned to face the man in Hightower's office. To her surprise it was the same man with the dark eyes who'd caught her before she hit the ground that day at the pub by the sea. His eyes, the ones that she still remembered clearly, lit up when he grinned in recognition upon seeing who she was. "Very pleased to make your acquaintance," he replied. "I cursed myself more times than you know for not introducing myself that day at the pub. Please call me Bill."

Lisbon smirked before she could stop herself.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he told her. "Billy Elliot. I've heard it before. I would prefer if you called me either Bill or Elliot though if you don't mind. That's what everyone else does."

"Alright," Lisbon told him with a grin. "You can call me Lisbon. Everyone else does."

He grinned back.

Hightower looked mildly confused. "I'm sorry have you two met before?" she asked.

"We ran into each other briefly a couple days ago," Elliot corrected. "Never actually met though."

"Guess it's time to remedy that," Lisbon told him with a grin.

xxxxx

TBC

Okay, I admit that one may have been a wee bit evil.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Okay, thanks to all those who reviewed chapter 7. Again you made me laugh. I honestly hadn't realized how many times I called Jane an idiot (though apparently it was six in case anybody's wondering), but really, he deserved it! I hope you enjoy this one as well, though it's not quite so much fun.

xxxxx

Chapter 8

xxxxx

Lisbon had given Bill, as he'd told her to call him, a brief tour of the Serious Crimes Unit before handing him back to Hightower. She'd been pleasantly surprised by her companion. He'd been interested in her work, but not too intrusive. He'd asked a couple of questions about the case they were currently working on, but Lisbon put that down to general politeness coupled by the fact that he apparently had a lot of experience in tracking down corporate espionage and information thieves based on their paper trails. Well, that and the Jenkins case had been in the news a lot lately. Special Agent Elliot had also gotten along well with her team when she'd introduced them. Everyone seemed to like him. He was charming and funny but not overly so. He wasn't trying too hard; his interest didn't feel like an act. His behaviour simply felt natural. To be sure, she still didn't know much about him; he hadn't really talked about himself or what he was doing at the moment, other than that he was taking some time off. But Lisbon supposed his reticence was only natural. Especially if he was, as Hightower had said, between assignments, or even taking time off for personal reasons.

All in all she'd quite enjoyed her temporary distraction. It sure beat paperwork. His arrival was probably the most exciting thing that was going to happen to her all day.

Turns out she was wrong. About an hour later she heard a knock on her door.

She looked up to see Special Agent Elliot standing in her doorway. "Agent Lisbon," he said. "I was wondering if I you had a minute."

"Of course," she told him. "Come on in."

"Thanks," he told her with a smile as he sat down across from her. Lisbon couldn't help noticing again that he really did have very nice eyes. She gave herself a bit of a mental shake and focussed on what he was saying. "Hightower told me a bit more about what you guys were doing and how you were kind of up against a wall, with your case I mean. I thought, well... I do have some experience with this sort of thing, so I thought I'd offer my services with the case," he told her.

"Oh, we couldn't take up your vacation time with this stuff," she told him. "Plus I think we've got it covered at the moment. But thank you," she added, trying not to get ruffled by the offer. She told herself he was just being nice; the offer wasn't meant to highlight the fact that, on their own, her team wasn't really getting anywhere.

"You sure?" he double-checked hopefully.

"Yeah," she told him. "If your first job at the CBI is something this boring you'll never want to join us and what'll Hightower say then? But I'll tell you what, give us a few days and if we could still use your help I'll definitely give you a call."

"Alright," he said.

"Did you need anything else?" she asked when he didn't immediately get up to leave.

He shot her another charming grin. "Well, since work fell through as an excuse to spend time with a beautiful woman, I guess I'll have to be more direct. Would you like to have dinner with me tonight Agent Lisbon?" he asked.

Lisbon was surprised but flattered. Oh what the hell, she thought to herself. What could it hurt? "Sure," she told him with a smile. "That sounds nice."

Bill did stand then, "Great!" he told her. "Hightower's got me pretty busy for the rest of the day, but I'll come by and get you when I'm done, okay?" he asked. "I figured we'd go somewhere casual so we don't have to bother changing, if that's fine with you of course."

"No that's fine," she told him. Actually that was more than fine with her. By the end of the day she'd be in no mood to go home and stress over things like hair and make-up. Casual was better. "I'll look forward to it."

"Me too," he told her. With that he really did leave.

Lisbon turned back to her paperwork, biting her lip to stop the grin from erupting on her face.

After the week she'd been having dinner with a nice guy was sounding like a better idea by the minute.

Unfortunately apart from Bill's offer of dinner, the rest of Lisbon's day offered few distractions. She passed most of the afternoon pretty much buried in paperwork and endless internet searches. If she never looked through another financial database again it'd be too soon. But Lisbon knew that even if the team did get another more pressing case it wouldn't make any difference. She was still restricted to her desk for the rest of the week as a mere matter of course thanks to the Jenkins shooting.

She was considering getting a cup of coffee that she didn't even want, just for an excuse to relieve some of the boredom. She was just about to start searching her in-box for unfinished paperwork to distract her when her phone rang.

"Lisbon?" she said, as she picked it up.

"How's sifting through the endless stack of documents going?" she heard Minelli ask.

"Shut up," she told him playfully. She'd brought him up to speed on what had happened in Monterey when she'd first gotten back to Sacramento. She'd tried to skim over some of the details, but he knew her too well and had been able to read between the lines. She figured he was alternating between being irritated at Jane and being concerned about his ex-consultant. The only think Lisbon knew for sure was that Virgil was relieved that it had been Lou with Jane in the bushes and not herself. Still, she figured she'd soft-peddled on the details enough that Minelli wouldn't outright kill Jane on sight, if he ever saw him again of course.

"That well huh?" Minelli remarked, bringing her attention back to their current conversation. "This is why I'm glad I'm retired," the ex-agent added.

"Yeah, well, I think I'm a ways away from that," Lisbon reminded him.

"Let's hope so," he replied.

"Did you need something?" she asked him.

"Always right to the point aren't you Lisbon?" he asked with a grin, knowing she wouldn't be offended. "But as usual you're right; I'm not just calling to chat. My wife has just informed me that she's having a bunch of friends over to play bridge tonight..." he started explaining.

"So you're looking for any excuse to get out of the house," Lisbon guessed.

"Absolutely," he replied. "They're wonderful women really, but eight to one would put any man at a disadvantage."

She laughed at the hint of panic in his voice. "And you thought of using me as an escape, I'm flattered sir."

"Yes well," he said, "How about it Teresa? Will you let me take you to dinner? Rescue me from a hoard of gossiping women?"

"Normally I'd love to," she told him. "But I can't tonight," she said somewhat regretfully.

Minelli huffed in annoyance, "If you tell me you have to spend your evening going through paperwork on the Jenkins case I'm coming over there and dragging you away myself," he warned her.

"It's not the case," she told him indulgently.

"What's this I hear?" he asked, interested now. "Does Agent Lisbon, the consummate workaholic, actually have plans?"

"And you call your wife's friends gossips," she chided him. "But yes, I'm going to dinner with a friend of Hightower's from the Secret Service, a Special Agent Bill Elliot. Do you know him?" she asked. Despite his retirement Minelli still kept up his contacts. If anyone could tell him anything about her prospective dinner companion it was her former boss.

"I know _of_ him," Minelli clarified. "Everything I've heard about him is good, though admittedly I haven't heard much. Still, from what I _have_ heard, he's good at what he does. Why?" he asked suddenly. "Have you heard anything that suggests otherwise?"

"Oh no," Lisbon told him. "I was just curious. Thought you might know a bit about him."

"Well, like I said," Minelli told her. "From everything I've heard Elliot's a good agent."

"Hm," Lisbon said. "Well, Hightower's hoping to lure him over to the CBI," she told her boss. "I'm sure that's partly why he asked me to dinner."

"Oh yes, I'm _sure_ that's the reason," Minelli said sarcastically.

"_Sir_," she said in warning.

Minelli sighed but he knew better than to press the point. "Well, since you have other plans, I guess I'll have to find someone else to save me from a well-intentioned if nosy gaggle of women."

Lisbon smirked, "Good luck with that. I'll talk to you later. I should probably get back to work."

"Alright," he agreed. "And Teresa?"

"Hm?"

"Try and have some fun tonight would you?" he asked her. "For me?"

"Goodbye Virgil," she told him firmly before hanging up the phone.

Still, she supposed her ex-boss had a point. Dinner with a handsome man certainly had the potential to be _quite_ fun.

Suddenly she heard a knock on her door. "Hey Van Pelt," she said. "Come on in."

"Hey boss," Van Pelt said as she walked into the office. "I've been through the files we found in Jenkins' spare room under the bed. Nothing."

"Of course not," Lisbon muttered.

"Also, no sign of another bank account yet either," Van Pelt told her. "But I'm still waiting for a contact to get back to me so we'll see."

"Okay, thanks," Lisbon told her.

"No problem," Van Pelt replied.

Lisbon noticed that though she was obviously done summarizing what she'd found, Van Pelt didn't appear to be making a move to leave her office either. "Is there anything else?" Lisbon asked her.

Van Pelt's face blossomed into a knowing grin. "Dinner with Agent Elliot huh?" she asked suggestively.

Lisbon blushed and ran a hand through her hair, forcing herself to sound nonchalant. "He's interested in the CBI," she told the woman grinning across the desk at her.

"Of course he is," Van Pelt agreed readily. "Some parts more than others," she added significantly.

"Grace!" Lisbon said with a laugh, trying to sound stern. But the effect was somewhat ruined by the use of her friend's first name.

"Oh come on Teresa," Grace said, slipping into the more personal as well. She'd been friends of a sort with her boss for years now, and she knew the woman well enough to know when something was going on. Besides, Agent Elliot was cute. A little encouragement wouldn't hurt. "He was interested," Grace assured her boss. "A blind man could see it, the way he was looking at you earlier."

"Yeah well," Lisbon said running her hand through her hair again, "It's just dinner."

"For now," Van Pelt pointed out with a grin.

Any response Lisbon may have made was cut off when Cho knocked on the door, "Sorry to interrupt girl-talk," he told the two women. "But boss, I thought you'd like to know, Jane's in the bullpen."

"_Jane?"_ Lisbon repeated completely shocked. She'd told her ex-consultant that he knew where she'd be if he needed her, but she hadn't really expected him to take her up on the offer. And even if he had, the most she'd been expecting was a phone call.

"Yeah," Cho repeated. "Patrick Jane. You know, not quite six feet tall, blond hair, kind of irritating, strong affinity for couches, used to work here?"

Lisbon stood up a little too quickly. "I know who he is Cho," she told him a little irritated. "I'm just surprised he's here. I thought he'd stick around Monterey a little longer."

Cho shrugged, "Okay. Like I said, I thought you'd like to know."

Lisbon shared a look with Van Pelt. The younger agent looked just as surprised as she felt, though Lisbon thought Grace also looked pleased. Which made sense, Lisbon reminded herself. Everyone on her team liked Jane. Lisbon cleared her throat. "Yeah," she agreed. "Thanks for letting me know." Now why on earth was she nervous? The two of them had cleared the air a bit after the accident. She was pretty sure Jane wasn't here to cause her any trouble. She turned to Van Pelt abruptly. "Well, I guess we'd better get out there," she said. "See what's going on."

"Guess so," Grace said with another grin as she followed her boss out of the office.

xxxxx

Jane was trying to tell himself that he absolutely wasn't nervous, that he wasn't going to be escorted out of the building on sight, that he had no reason to be unsure of his reception. Well, he thought to himself. That last one was probably true, at least when it came to the team. He was less sure about the rest of the building.

"How you doing man?" Rigsby asked, clapping him on the back.

Jane ran a hand through his hair. "Pretty good," he replied truthfully. Things obviously weren't perfect, but he was trying to deal with what happened.

Rigsby nodded in understanding. "I wasn't expecting to see you back here so soon," he admitted. "How's Lou?"

"Oh, she's good. Her Doctor's say she'll be fine, eventually at least," Jane told him. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Lisbon approaching, flanked by Van Pelt and Cho. He tried not to swallow guiltily.

"Good," Rigsby said definitively. "I'm glad she'll be okay."

"Sheriff Granger?" Lisbon checked as she walked up to the pair of them. When Jane nodded, she continued. "I wasn't expecting to see you so soon Jane," she told him.

"You and Rigsby both apparently," Jane told her. "I thought you might need my help finding if any of the information Jenkins copied was actually ever leaked."

Lisbon tilted her head slightly. "It's not that we don't want your help," she told him. "But you could have stuck around for a couple of extra days Jane. We certainly don't need you desperately to look through these case files. Everyone would have understood if you needed more time."

Jane looked confused, "Why was everyone so certain I'd want to stick around Monterey?" he asked

"Why?" Rigsby scoffed. "Nice try man. We all saw you two together."

Jane stared at the other man in disbelief. "Lou and I?" he double-checked. When Rigsby nodded Jane explained. "There's nothing between Lou and I," he told the other man calmly.

"Nothing?" Cho double-checked.

"Okay, I kissed her that night at the bar," Jane admitted. Rigsby snickered. "But it was only once!" Jane insisted. "I mean, she's a lovely woman, don't get me wrong, but I never had any intention of... Neither of us did. She was the one who told me to get lost and move on with my life! I mean, of course I stayed for a while after she got hurt. It was my fault after all and..."

"It wasn't your fault," Lisbon interrupted.

"That's nice of you to say Lisbon," Jane told her. "But we both know that it was. Anyway, Lou got hurt, and it was because of my idea. I couldn't leave her there by herself. So I just sort of, I don't know, stayed for few days. I visited her, apologized. She also informed me that what happened wasn't my fault by the way. Both of you are lying. Then her doctor came in. And let me tell you, it was plain to see that Patrick Jane had been replaced in her affections. That's about when she ordered me to move on, in case you were wondering."

Lisbon smirked. "I'm sorry Jane."

"No, no. Perfectly understandable," Jane said with a wave of his hand. "Like I said, it was a bit of fun, but neither of us had any real intentions."

"Oh, I don't know," Lisbon told him. "I saw her that night at dinner. She seemed pretty interested in what Patrick Jane had to offer."

He grinned, his ego appreciating the lie. "Well thank you for that anyway Lisbon. But trust me, it really doesn't matter. Besides, her doctor looked like he'd walked right out of a television set. He's also closer to her age. And I think we can all agree, a doctor's much better than a travelling consultant. Good for her," he added. He really didn't want to talk about this anymore. He'd had no idea the entire team was under the impression he was interested in _Lou_. He just tended to flirt with everybody; it was his way. Plus, she'd been young, and pretty and fun, and clearly interested in him. What man could resist that? It'd been a brief distraction; that was it. "I'm just glad she'll make a full recovery," Jane concluded. "I'll be forever grateful that I didn't do any lasting damage."

"Jane," Lisbon said taking him by the arm. "I know I've said this already and I know you don't believe me, or Lou apparently, but it really wasn't your fault. There was no way you could have known Jenkins would have a gun. It absolutely wasn't your fault." She figured if she said it enough times he might believe her.

"It was," he insisted.

"It wasn't," she repeated obstinately.

"It was my idea," he told her softly.

"She was the law enforcement officer, not you," Lisbon reminded him. "She could have said no. She didn't."

"You would have," Jane told her, a hint of affection in his voice.

Lisbon smiled. "Well, I would have at least brought back-up," she acknowledged with a shrug.

Jane grinned softly. "Anyway, like I said, since the local sheriff basically ordered me out of the county, I thought I'd come back here and see if I could help you guys tie up loose ends," he told her.

Lisbon smirked, "You want to help go through piles of paperwork?" she asked raising her eyebrows sceptically.

"Well no," Jane told her honestly. "But I thought there might be some other way I could help. Another set of eyes and all that. Besides, I thought I might have a flash of inspiration of some kind. What was it you used to call it, a Jane-hunch?" he asked her with a soft smile. Now he just had to pray that she didn't say no.

Lisbon eyed him closely for a moment. Jane fought the urge to squirm under her gaze. Slowly she grinned. "I guess your couch is still free," she told him.

Jane couldn't resist answering her smile with his own. He moved ever so slightly closer to her and opened his mouth to say something else when they were interrupted.

"You ready to grab some dinner Lisbon?" Special Agent Elliot asked from the door of the bullpen. "Or do you need me to come back a bit later?"

Lisbon took a step back, shooting Jane an apologetic smile. "No," she said glancing at her watch. "I can leave now," she told the agent. "Just give me ten minutes alright? I'll meet you downstairs."

The other agent nodded, and then he noticed Jane. "I'm sorry," he said holding out his hand. "We haven't met, Special Agent Bill Elliot."

"Patrick Jane," Jane said as he shook it. If he recognized the man from that night at the pub he didn't show it. Lisbon held back her smile when she realized her ex-consultant was taking the man's pulse. She supposed old habits die hard.

"The consultant?" Elliot asked. When Jane nodded he looked impressed. "I've heard stories about your work," he admitted. "I'm Secret Service myself, but I'm considering a move to something a little closer to home."

Jane just nodded politely.

"Well," Bill said abruptly. "I'll let you all get back to what you were doing. I'm sorry for interrupting." Then he turned back to Lisbon. "I'll see you in a few minutes."

They all watched him go. Lisbon turned back to her consultant, "Sorry Jane," she said, genuine regret in her voice. "I've got to go, but we'll talk more tomorrow okay?" she promised.

"Sure," he told her with a smile. "Go have dinner. After all, Special Agent Elliot certainly seems quite interested in the CBI. Wonder why that is?"

Lisbon swatted him in the arm. "Shut up," she told him. "It's just dinner. He wants to hear about the case and what it's like to work here."

"Sure he does," Jane told her.

Lisbon shot him a look before turning to leave. At the doorway she turned again, "Are you sure you're alright Jane, because I could cancel..."

Briefly Jane selfishly considered taking her up on her offer, but then he shook his head. "No, go ahead," he told her. "I'm fine. And I'll be here tomorrow."

Lisbon sent him a wide smile. "Okay then."

The second she was gone the smile slipped off Jane's face and he looked thoughtful.

He turned to Cho, intending to fish for information about the possible new (and in Jane's opinion unnecessary) addition to the CBI family.

Before he could say anything Cho broke the silence first. "You're an idiot," he told Jane.

Jane ignored that. "What do you know about Special Agent Elliot?" he asked the agent.

Cho shrugged. "Not much. Hightower knows him pretty well. I heard Minelli knows who he is, seems to like him."

"_Of course_ Virgil likes him," Jane muttered.

Cho continued on as if Jane hadn't spoken. "Everything about him seems perfect."

To anyone else that might have sounded like the highest compliment, but Jane knew Kimball Cho better than most people. "Seems?" he double-checked.

"Well, he is between assignments," Cho pointed out. "Gossip around the water cooler is that he has been for a while too. That doesn't happen to perfect agents."

"What do you know?" Jane asked conspiratorially.

"Nothing specific," Cho told him. "But I hear things. And word on the street is that Agent Elliot might not be quite the blue-eyed boy Hightower seems to think he is."

"Could you find out anything else?" Jane asked.

Cho shrugged. "I've got connections," he told his friend.

"Do I even want to know who?" Jane asked.

"I wouldn't tell you anyway," Cho replied. "It might take a couple days though."

"Doesn't matter," Jane told him.

"Hey man, why do you care?" Rigsby asked, suddenly rejoining the conversation.

"No reason," Jane told him. "Just a hunch. "Besides, gotta make sure he's a good guy if he's planning on sticking around, right?"

"Sure..." Rigsby muttered.

Jane just winked at him and Van Pelt, before dropping back onto his old couch. He acknowledged to himself that things could have gone far, far worse.

He glanced over at Lisbon's empty office with a frown. On the other hand, he had to admit that things could have also gone far, far _better_.

Jane decided his best course of action at the moment would be to try and solve the mystery of the information thief without a buyer. Wrapping up her case for her would be guaranteed to get her attention.

Deliberately focussing his eyes on the ceiling Jane was comforted by the fact that Elvis at least was still around.

xxxxx

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Guys, I can't even tell you how much I loved that after chapter 7 everyone was all, "Yeah, Jane you're a total idiot, that's right!" Then comes chapter 8 and everyone's all, "Aw! Poor Jane!" Hee. And I love that I've apparently inspired people to read (or re-read as the case may be) Persuasion. Clearly my work here is done. And anyone who's thinking about doing it, I'd recommend it, because it is an awesome book.

Oh, and to the Austen purists, I admit I added a few scenes from here on in. (Although, if you were a true Austen purist I don't know why you'd be reading this anyway, so I'm probably okay).

Also, given that I'm now almost done writing the fic (for those of you who don't know, I've been a few chapters ahead pretty much consistently), I know I'm not going to write myself into a corner narrative-wise anymore, so I may start posting a bit more quickly. It doesn't make sense to me to hold the chapters hostage on my laptop.

xxxxx

Chapter 9

xxxxx

Lisbon was back at the CBI bright and early the next morning. She passed through security quickly. Not too many people were in yet, which always made the process easier. As she walked through the still quiet halls her thoughts drifted back to the evening before.

Bill had taken her to a sports bar not too far from the office. There`d been a basketball game on one of the televisions so they'd spent a large chunk of the evening discussing the game. Then they'd chatted about work. He'd asked her more about the CBI as she'd expected. He was also interested about the Jenkins case and about Jane. Lisbon was used to people's interest in Jane; she'd dealt with the issue for years. Jane's abilities fascinated people. If her experience over the last few days was anything to go by, it was obvious that with his increase in notoriety in the last year that fascination had only gotten worse. Still Lisbon knew the evening could have been worse. Even if he did have terrible taste in basketball teams, at least she could talk to Bill about the job, about the cases. It was a nice change from the norm. Most men she went out with looked nervous at best when they heard about her job. At worst they were intimidated or downright turned off.

All in all the two of them had a good time. Special Agent Elliot was perfectly charming, perfectly witty and perfectly nice. But Lisbon was forced to admit to herself that when it came right down to it something just felt... off. It was nothing she could put her finger on. Nice as his eyes were, sometimes they looked like they were almost devoid of expression. And it wasn't just his eyes. She'd spent a few hours with him now and she still felt like she didn't know a thing about him, beyond a few of his favourite basketball players, the fact that he was originally from New Jersey, was an only child and was apparently considering a career change.

Or maybe she was just being paranoid. He'd certainly seemed to enjoy himself. He'd kissed her goodnight at her front door after all. The kiss had been perfectly serviceable, but she hadn't felt even the briefest hint of a spark. Lisbon sighed. It probably was just her. Really, what was wrong with her? A perfectly nice guy, cute, charming, didn't run in the other direction when he heard about her job and pretty obviously interested in her. She should have been thrilled. As it was she was just... meh. He was almost too perfect, _too charming_. She knew it sounded insane, but it was true. There was just nothing to him.

Still, she'd certainly been on worse dates. While this one hadn't been particularly exciting, it was the best one she'd been on in a while. Maybe she should consider a second date. If he asked her of course.

Lisbon shook her head as she approached her office. She didn't have to make up her mind right that second. It was time to focus on the case, not her rather pathetic love life. Before she could start running through what she had to do that morning her attention was caught by a movement in the bullpen. She stuck her head in curiously. It was rare that one of her team beat her in these days.

She grinned when she saw Jane sprawled on the couch tossing one of Rigsby's stress balls back and forth in his hands. "Please tell me you didn't spend the night here," she told him indulgently.

Jane sat up when he heard her voice. "Nope," he told her cheerfully. "My insomnia's actually gotten much better in the last year," he admitted. "Still an early riser though, and I had a thought early this morning that needed mulling over."

"Did you?" she asked him as she dropped onto the couch beside him.

Jane smiled at her. It was so easy to pretend that the falling out had never happened when she was sitting so close to him and looking happy. "I did," he confirmed.

Lisbon watched him a moment. Finally she nudged him with her shoulder.

"What?" he asked with exaggerated innocence.

She rolled her eyes. "Are you ever going to tell me your thought or do you want me to guess?" she asked him.

He grinned, "No I'll tell you," he told her. "So I was thinking..."

"Yes, you've told me that part already," she said dryly.

He shot her an appreciative smirk, "As I was saying, I was thinking, we've been operating under the assumption that Jenkins was being _paid_ for the information he stole from the law firm right?"

"Yes," Lisbon said slowly. "That's true, but why would he do it if he wasn't being paid for it?"

"He wouldn't," Jane agreed. "But what if he wasn't being paid in money?"

Lisbon's eyes widened in understanding, "You mean like a favour, or a gift or something?" she asked.

"Exactly," Jane said. "But probably not a gift. It's too obvious. If it was something like that you guys'd have found it when you were looking for the money."

"But it could be something like a favour, a promotion maybe, or a connection. It could be a lot of things," Lisbon said with a sigh.

"Still, it gives us something to look for," Jane told her.

"And it probably won't involve going through stacks and stacks of financial records for the eighteenth time," Lisbon added. She leaned back against the couch, deep in thought.

Jane watched her out of the corner of his eye. Things were a lot more natural between them since the hospital. Between their brief conversation the night before and then this morning he couldn't help thinking about how much he missed just talking to her. He missed teasing her, missed the way she rolled her eyes and got annoyed. He missed the way she thought, that she seemed to get him, that she was able to challenge him. And most of all he missed the fact that she actually cared about what happened to him. It may have been selfish, but he'd missed knowing that if he'd needed her she was there. He knew he didn't deserve it, but given the way she was acting around him, Jane was beginning to let himself hope that he might be able to at least salvage their friendship.

Lisbon on the other hand was mainly thinking about the case. If Jane was right, and knowing him he probably was, then it would explain why nobody had been able to find any evidence whatsoever that Jenkins had sold the information. After all, how did you track a favour? Obviously when the rest of the team arrived they'd need to have a little team powwow to see if anyone had any ideas, beyond just going through the stacks of papers they already had. On the other hand, if Jane was right they could probably stop sorting through the endless case files that had been brought in. She smiled to herself. It was nice having Jane back, even if it was just temporary. Say what you will about his methods, his insights were usually really helpful.

She was about to say something else when her stomach growled audibly.

Jane grinned, "Still skipping breakfast on Thursdays so you can grab an extra twenty minutes of sleep huh?" he asked.

Lisbon got flustered, "Yeah well," she started to explain.

Before she could launch into her defence full out Jane dropped a paper bag into her lap. "Here," he told her.

Lisbon glanced at him in surprise before slowly opening the top of the bag. "You got me a bear claw?" she asked quietly, staring down at the treat.

He shrugged. "Didn't want you getting cranky an hour from now because your blood sugar was low," he told her.

She nudged him in the shoulder again. "Thank you," she said. No one had brought her breakfast since, well, since Jane had left actually. Lisbon felt a pang of affection for the man next to her. She'd miss him when he was gone again. But she decided she didn't want to think about that at the moment. Right now, all she wanted to do was enjoy her bear claw.

The pair sat in companionable silence as the rest of the team filed in. Van Pelt looked surprised at the sight, but didn't say anything beyond a quiet good morning. Cho shot them a considering look and Rigsby didn't even appear to notice. Once everyone was settled Lisbon shared Jane's newest theory and the members of the Serious Crimes Unit divvied up Jenkins' personal papers yet again, in hopes of finding hints of something that looked like a favour.

xxxxx

Lisbon was sifting through papers that she felt like she'd already read five times when she heard a knock at the door. She looked up, surprised when she saw Virgil Minelli in her doorway. "Hello," she said.

"I hope I'm not taking you away from something important," he told her.

"No, I've been staring at these pages for a while now," she told him. "I could use the break."

"Good, I was in the neighbourhood so I thought I'd drop by," he explained.

"You were in the neighbourhood of the CBI building?" she asked, disbelieving.

He sighed, "Okay, I had an errand to run on the other side of town and decided to drop in on my way back. Is there something wrong with that?"

"No," she told him with a grin. It always amused her when Minelli tried to downplay his affection. He did the same thing with his daughters and his wife. Actually, he did the same thing with everyone. "Did you want to grab a cup of coffee or did you just stop by to chat?" she asked him.

"Oh, no coffee please," he told her. "Doctor says I have to cut back on both sugar and caffeine."

"Alright then," she told him.

He sat down on her couch. "I was wondering if we could change our dinner next week to Wednesday," he asked her. "It's just that this weekend our church is having a spaghetti dinner and Mary really wants to go so..."

Lisbon cut off his explanation. "Wednesday should be fine. It's not a problem."

"Good," Minelli told her. "Speaking of dinners..."

Lisbon groaned audibly.

"What?" he asked. "I can't show an interest?"

"Sir..." she said.

"I don't want the gory details Lisbon," he told her. "I was just wondering how it went. All I want is for you to be happy. And maybe leave work a little earlier from time to time."

Lisbon sighed. It was hard to be angry with him when he phrased his meddling as concern. "It was fine," she told him.

"Fine?" he asked. "That's it?"

"Well what else do you want me to say?" she asked.

"I certainly wouldn't go overboard with your praise," he told her.

"But I really don't know what else to say," she told him. "Special Agent Bill Elliot and I had dinner together at a sports bar. It was fine. I enjoyed myself."

"What was wrong with him?" Minelli asked.

"Nothing was wrong with him," she told him. "I can't explain. There's nothing to him."

Minelli looked at her closely then he sighed. "I'm sorry Lisbon," he said at last. "It was just that he seemed like a good guy."

"I know," she replied. "I know. I don't know what's wrong with me but..."

"I shouldn't have stuck my nose in your business," he told her. "But like I said, I worry about you. I know what this job is, and I know you, and how hard you work. And I worry about you being lonely sometimes. That's all."

Her expression softened. "I'm fine."

"There's that word again," he pointed out.

She grinned. "Yeah, but it's a different context this time," she told him. "Seriously though, I have my friends, I have my team, my brothers, well, some of them, and I have you. What more could I need?"

"Okay," he told her. "I'll butt out."

"I never said that I'd completely given up on Elliot," she told him.

He nodded. "What are you going to do then?"

"To be honest I haven't decided," she replied.

"Well, whatever it is, make sure it's what you want, not anybody else," he told her.

"Yes sir," replied with a mock salute.

Minelli was about to say something else when Jane walked into her office interrupting them. "Lisbon I was thinking..." he said, and then noticing they weren't alone he stopped abruptly. "Oh. I'm sorry to intrude."

"Jane," Minelli greeted the other man tersely.

"Virgil," Jane replied in a similar tone.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here," Minelli said, his tone clipped and even, forcibly polite.

"Consulting on a case," Jane told him easily.

"Yes, I heard," Minelli said his tone accusatory. "I thought your part in the matter was done." To his utter shock Jane actually looked abashed by the unsaid accusation.

"Loose ends to tie up," the consultant said softly.

"I see," Minelli said, his town lightening just a smidgen when he realized that Jane may have been genuinely contrite about what had happened.

"I'm sorry for interrupting," Jane said to him and Lisbon. "I'll come back in a few minutes," he told his ex-boss.

Minelli watched him go, his expression judgemental. He turned back towards Lisbon and saw a remarkably similar expression on her face.

She crossed her arms and sent him a glare. "Was that really necessary?" she asked him.

"What?" Minelli asked her. He should have expected the reaction really. She'd always had a soft spot for the unpredictable consultant.

She sighed. "He feels badly enough as it is," she told her mentor. "And it wasn't entirely his fault you know."

"Maybe not what happened a few days ago," he told her. "But what about a year ago?" he asked.

Lisbon looked surprised. "Sir?"

He sighed. "Like I said, I worry about you. And I don't like seeing you upset Teresa," he told her. "There was a time I could have quite happily shot that man out there. You'll have to excuse me if I'm not quite as forgiving as you are. At least not yet."

"Well, he's probably only going to be here a few more days," Lisbon told him.

Minelli decided not to comment on the 'probably' and what it implied. "I'll see you at dinner next week Lisbon," he told her instead. "Take care of yourself. I just want to see you happy," he told reminded her yet again.

She softened. "I know," she told him. "I'll see you next week."

As Minelli left he sent Jane a nod. Alright, it was a short nod, but he supposed he could at least be civil to the man, if only for the sake of the woman in the office behind him.

Jane watched Minelli go, his irritation at the other man rising. He knew Virgil was protective of Lisbon, adored her really. And Jane could understand that. Really. But, but, things were finally getting back to some sort of an even keel between him and Lisbon. The last thing he needed was for her former mentor to stick his nose in and remind her about how dangerous Jane was and advise her to keep her distance. Jane acknowledged that his case wasn't exactly helped by what had happened a couple of days ago. Lisbon was probably relieved that she didn't have to deal with his nonsense all the time anymore. Jane sighed. Great. Just great.

And not only was Virgil probably reminding her of why she was better off without him but he was also actively encouraging her to spend time with picture-perfect Special Agent Elliot. Okay, so Jane admitted he may have eavesdropped just a little before he walked right into the middle of their conversation. Sue him. He hadn't been able to catch everything of course. It was hard to loiter outside an office and not be caught, especially if you no longer worked in the building. But he'd heard Minelli push Lisbon towards that idiot from the Secret Service. Lisbon had been a bit reluctant sure, but who wants to be shoved towards someone by their ex-boss? No. Jane didn't have any confidence in her reaction. None whatsoever.

Not that he really cared who she dated of course, but it was the double standard that bothered him. What did Minelli know about Elliot anyway? Cho certainly thought there was something not quite right about him, and Jane had to agree. Minelli didn't know Elliot from a hole in the wall. Yet Virgil liked _him_.

Jane sat on his couch and scowled. He knew he was lucky it was so close to lunch and the bullpen was empty, otherwise someone would have almost certainly asked him what was wrong, and then he'd have to come up with a reason that he was sulking on his couch. His old couch that is.

"Something wrong Jane?" Lisbon asked him suddenly.

Jane's head whipped around. When had she started walking so quietly? "Hm?" he asked. "Oh, no. Sorry, passing thought. Don't worry about it."

"You sure?" she asked.

He sent her a smile. "Yeah," he told her.

"Okay," she agreed. She didn't believe him (and he knew it) but she wouldn't press the point. "But if you ever want to talk I'm available," she told him.

Jane stared at her for a second. God she was nice. He wanted to hug her, but he didn't get to do that anymore, and even if he did, she wouldn't like it at the office. "Thanks Lisbon," he said instead.

"Did you need something?" she asked.

"I just told you I was fine," he replied.

She grinned, "I meant before," she clarified. "When you burst into my office unannounced."

"Yeah, sorry about that," he told her.

She waved him off. "It was just Minelli," she told him. "He understands."

"Hm," Jane told her.

"So, what did you want to tell me?" she asked.

"Oh right." Jane paused. "You know," he said eventually, "I've forgotten."

She let out a huff of amusement. "Well if you remember you know where to find me."

"Yeah," he said. "Um, Lisbon?" he asked. She turned back towards him, but before he could say anything his phone rang. "Sorry," he muttered, embarrassed. "Hello?" he asked.

Lisbon paused near the couch, wondering if she should wait for Jane's phone call to be over so he could ask her whatever he'd been planning on asking her. If it was a short call it might be easier, otherwise they'd just be bothering each other every five minutes at this rate. On the other hand it was probably pretty rude to listen in on his conversation. "Oh hey Sophie!" she heard him say.

Sophie? Lisbon thought. As in Sophie Croft? Well now she was curious. Deciding she may as well stick around so they could continue their conversation she surreptitiously leaned up against Cho's desk and flipped open a file, pretending to read its contents but really listening to Jane's conversation.

"Yeah, I'm still in Sacramento," Lisbon heard her consultant say. There was another brief pause. "Yes, I know Harry's coming down tomorrow," Jane said. "I have his truck and he's picking it up then."

Lisbon was surprised at that. She didn't know Jane had borrowed a vehicle. Somehow she just couldn't picture him driving a truck. It just didn't fit with his image in his shiny suit complete with matching vest. She snickered into her file.

"Wait, _you're _in Sacramento for a conference?" Jane asked. "Why didn't you tell me? We could have driven together!"

Lisbon looked up, Sophie was in the city? Well that was nice, she thought. Jane would get to see his old friends. You should keep in touch with old friends like that. She wondered what they were planning on doing.

"Actually that sounds great," Jane said as he glanced at his watch. "Where?" There was another brief pause. "Just a second," Jane said. "She's standing right here, I'll ask her." Before Sophie could reply Jane put his hand over the phone and turned to Lisbon. "It's Sophie," he explained, though given that she'd been standing well within earshot pretending to read a file, he suspected she already knew that. But he'd let her have her little subterfuges. "She's in Sacramento and she was wondering if you wanted to meet for a quick lunch. I'm going too," he added as an afterthought.

"Sure," Lisbon said just a little too quickly. "That sounds nice."

"Great," Jane told her. He put his ear back to his phone, "Soph?" he asked. "She said it sounds great. What time? Noon?" He glanced at Lisbon who nodded. "Okay, we'll see you then," Jane confirmed.

Lisbon walked across the room to give him a bit more privacy as she continued to pretend to read her file. Even though she couldn't hear the other half of the conversation, Jane's portion was amusing her quite a bit.

"I told you before I left that I was going to Sacramento," he said, his tone defensive. There was another pause. "Well, of course I'm at the CBI. Where else would I be? I'm here to help tie up loose ends in the case!" he insisted.

There was another pause in the conversation. To Lisbon's utter amazement Jane almost looked… flustered. What on earth had the other woman said? And would she teach Lisbon the trick?

"Soph!" Jane practically shouted. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm a consultant. This is what I do, I consult." There was a final pause. "_Goodbye Sophie_," Jane said right before he hung up the phone. "She'll see us at noon," he told Lisbon.

Lisbon just smirked.

A few blocks away at the convention centre Sophie Croft was toying with her phone, a new and unexpected suspicion taking root in her brain.

Back at the CBI Lisbon put the file back on Cho's desk. She was pretty sure that Jane knew she hadn't been reading it anyway. "What's Sophie doing in the city?" she asked.

"Three day conference apparently," Jane told her. "Apparently she decided to go at the last minute. And now whoever was supposed to speak over lunch has cancelled on her, so she called yours truly as a back-up plan."

"It was nice of her to ask me as well," Lisbon told him. "If you two want to catch up I'd understand…"

Jane shook his head. "No, we caught up a bit a couple of days ago. And Sophie asked about you specifically Lisbon. You're not intruding, so stop thinking you are. Besides, the more the merrier right? It'll be fun."

Lisbon smiled self-consciously, "Yeah. Okay." Then she glanced at her watch. "Jane, it's quarter to twelve!"

"I know," he told her.

"Well, shouldn't we get going?" she asked him.

"Probably," he admitted.

She sighed. "Alright, let me go get my coat," she told him. She turned around only to see someone else in the doorway who wanted her attention.

"Hi Teresa," Elliot said as he ducked into the room.

"Bill!" she said surprised. "What are you doing here? Meeting with Hightower?"

"Um, no actually," he told her. "I was just in the neighbourhood and I was wondering if you wanted to grab lunch."

Lisbon briefly wondered what on earth was going in on 'the neighbourhood' that so many people seemed to be near enough to the CBI to just drop in. "I'm sorry I can't," she told him. "I've got other plans."

Jane mentally thanked Sophie for not calling five minutes later.

"Oh," Special Agent Elliot said awkwardly.

Lisbon sighed. He was a nice guy even if he was a little blah. "We could do it another time though if you wanted," she offered.

He brightened immediately, "Yeah," he told her. "That sounds nice. I'll give you a call first next time."

"Okay," she told him. When he didn't look like he was about to leave, she added, "I'm sorry Bill, but I've really got to go."

"Right," he told her. "Of course. I'll see you later then."

"Bye," she told him.

Jane was torn between being pleased that she'd turned Elliot down for his company, and being irritated that she'd postponed their lunch instead of cancelling outright. Minelli'd probably talked her into it.

When she got back with her jacket he met her in the hallway. "You know, if you wanted to go to lunch with Special Agent Square-Jaw I'm sure Sophie would have understood."

"Oh, now don't you start," she told him. "I'd like to see Sophie again. Besides, I'd already accepted her invitation; I wasn't going to change my mind at last second for another one, especially one made at the last possible second."

"Alright," Jane said. "Then let's go."

He held the door at the end of the hallway for her, and together they headed out to lunch.

xxxxx

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Alright, after this one there are three chapters and an epilogue. Next chapter's short. I originally had it combined with the one after it and a bit of the one before, but the chapter breaks were strange. So now there are more chapters, but they're shorter. Same content either way, so I'm not sure it matters.

xxxxx

Chapter 10

xxxxx

Sophie sat at a table and kept an eye on the doorway. Soon enough she saw them. The two of them were obviously quite comfortable together now. She watched Patrick open the door for his companion and follow her into the restaurant. The pair seemed friendlier than they had been a few days ago. Not overly so by any means, but still, more relaxed. And she couldn't help noticing that Patrick hovered just a hint closer to the lovely Teresa Lisbon than one usually would to a casual acquaintance, or an ex-boss.

She smiled to herself. Pat's insistence on rushing back to Sacramento immediately, _for the case_, was starting to make a little bit more sense.

"Sophie!" Lisbon said pleased. "It's nice to see you. I certainly wasn't expecting to run into you so soon. Thank you for including me in your lunch invitation."

Sophie grinned. "Like I said, any woman who can work with Patrick Jane for years without killing him is worth knowing in my book. I bet you have some great stories."

Lisbon smiled conspiratorially. "You know, I bet Jane was a bit of a devil when he was younger too. We could trade," she suggested.

Sophie laughed. "Deal."

"I should have realized that you two getting to know each other was going to be bad news for me," Jane said, but he smiled as he said it. "Soph," he greeted, kissing his friend on the cheek.

"Oh suck it up Patrick," she told him, with a laugh.

"Just don't tell anything too embarrassing would you?" he asked.

She grinned, "I'll promise to at least wait until you go to the bathroom if you'd prefer."

Jane considered the offer. "I'll take it," he told her.

"How are you?" she asked him softly.

"I'll be okay," he told her.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Good."

Then she turned to Lisbon, "So Teresa, most ridiculous position he ever got himself into."

She smirked, "I don't know, it's a bit of a tough call. There was that time he managed to get himself stuck on the roof of a barn. It probably wouldn't have been so bad, but the area was experiencing scattered, and heavy, rainstorms that afternoon."

Sophie laughed again, "Not really?"

Lisbon nodded. "Oh yes. He looked like a drowned rat when we finally found him."

"Yes, you were just as sympathetic then as I recall," Jane told her.

"I got you a towel," she said defensively. "Besides, it was your own fault for kicking over the ladder."

"I didn't do it on purpose woman!" he told her. "I've told you that time and time again."

"Poor baby," Sophie told him, enjoying the easy dynamic between the pair. "I don't suppose he ever told you about his experiences learning to surf?" she asked Lisbon.

"No," Lisbon said with a shake of her head. "But I think I'd love to hear them."

Jane dropped his head into his hands. He could see that it was going to be a long lunch.

xxxxxx

Actually, lunch with Sophie went by rather quickly. At first Jane thought the near constant barrage of embarrassing stories was a bit much. Then, when he realized that because of it his dining companions were chatting like old friends, he decided he didn't mind so much. He'd missed both women. He'd missed having people to talk to who knew him, who were more than just passing acquaintances. And of course, when he saw how hard Lisbon was laughing at Sophie's latest tale he even briefly considered sharing some of his own less than fantastic moments from the past year, just to keep her happy.

His thoughts were disrupted by Sophie's next remark. "Wow you guys seem to have worked pretty closely together for a while then."

"Yeah," Lisbon said with a shrug.

"Sounds like you made a good team," Sophie prompted.

"I guess so," Lisbon said, her tone slightly more subdued, Jane could tell she was becoming wary, more evasive. He knew what was coming, but couldn't think of a way to stop it in time.

"So why'd you stop working together then?" Sophie asked.

Jane froze.

Lisbon hesitated. "A difference of opinion," she said finally. Then she stood from the table just a little too fast. "I'm sorry, would you excuse me for a minute. I'm just going to head for the washroom."

"Of course," Sophie said. "I'm sorry if I…"

"Oh, no," Lisbon told her. "Don't worry about it."

Sophie frowned as she watched the other woman leave, then she rounded on her dining companion, ignoring his stricken expression. "Alright, what did you do?" she demanded.

"What?" he asked her, trying to look innocent and not just completely shut down. Well, that and resist the urge to get up and run after Lisbon.

Sophie refused to feel guilty about what she was doing. She didn't care if he was hurt. She was getting to the bottom of this mess. "Don't play dumb with me Patrick Jane! I know you too well. What did you do?" she asked again.

He sighed, "What makes you think it was all my fault?" he asked, running a hand through his hair. "Just, just let it alone Sophie. Please."

She got a good look at his face then. She wasn't used to seeing him so serious. Whatever it was, it was much bigger than a petty disagreement that got blown out of proportion. "Pat… if I'd had any idea," she apologized. Sophie had known the question was going to poke into something both of them were ignoring. She'd been trying to help. "I was just curious. I mean, you seem to be getting along so well today that I thought…"

"Don't worry about it Soph," Jane told her, unbelievably relieved that she apparently wasn't going to make him explain the details. "You couldn't have known."

"You care for her," she told him matter-of-factly.

"Soph…" Of course, just because she wouldn't force him to explain didn't mean she wouldn't interfere.

"Don't try and play me Patrick Jane," she warned him.

"We were close friends," he admitted finally, knowing she wouldn't let up. "And things are finally getting back to..." he trailed off. "Just, just don't push it Soph, I'm begging you," he asked softly.

"Okay," she told him. "But I like her Pat. And I think she might be good for you."

"You have no idea," he muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Not long after that Lisbon returned to the table. "I hate to cut our lunch short," she said. "But we should really get back to the CBI."

"Yeah, I need to get back to the conference as well," Sophie told her.

"It was lovely seeing you again," Lisbon told her.

"Likewise," Sophie replied. "And I'm sorry if I…"

"You didn't," Lisbon insisted, not wanting to talk about it, and not wanting the other woman to feel badly. She couldn't possibly have known.

"Okay," Sophie said, clearly unconvinced. "Well, I hope we meet again soon."

"Maybe we could get together again at the end of the conference," Jane suggested. "I think Harry'll be around by then as well."

"We should all have dinner," Sophie concluded. "The day after tomorrow. It's the last day of the conference; the afternoon ends early so I'll have plenty of time. And bring the rest of those agents of yours," she told Lisbon. "I'd like to see them again as well."

"Alright, I'll ask them," Lisbon promised.

"Bye Patrick," Sophie said. "Try and keep in touch would you?"

"I promise," he told her.

"Good," she said. "And don't do anything stupid."

"I'll try not to," he agreed.

Sophie shot him a small grin, "That's all I ask."

With that they parted ways.

xxxxx

Lisbon's team beat her back from their lunch breaks. "Anyone seen Lisbon and Jane?" Rigsby asked.

"Nope," Cho told him.

"Wonder where they went?" the other agent wondered. "I hope she hasn't killed him."

"They have been getting along a bit better lately," Van Pelt said.

"Which was inevitable," Cho replied.

Suddenly he heard the pair of them in the hall, and it sounded like Lisbon was laughing. Lisbon breezed down the hallway. "Hi guys," Lisbon called out cheerfully on her way by. "I'll be in my office if anyone needs me. Thanks for lunch Jane."

Jane didn't bother to say anything, just smirked at the three surprised looking agents, grabbed a file off the table and settled in on his couch to read it.

Rigsby turned to Van Pelt and raised his eyebrows in surprise. Apparently Lisbon and Jane were getting along quite a bit better indeed.

Cho smirked. Like he'd said, inevitable.

xxxxx

The rest of the afternoon was spent going through paperwork trying to find something that wasn't money that but could still have been used as payment.

Midway through the afternoon Cho ducked into Lisbon's office. "So boss," he said. "I'm not sure about this, but I keep seeing references to a job posting at the Department of Homeland Security that Jenkins was applying to. Seems he was pretty confident he'd get it. And I was wondering if…"

"If whoever asked him to get him the information has an in with that department," Lisbon finished. "Nice catch Cho. Okay, we're going to need to cross-reference Jenkins' associates with Homeland Security see if we catch anything. Do you have any contacts over there?" she asked.

"One," Cho told her. "But I figure we should also run it past Hightower. She works for 'em. Well, she used to anyway. I'm not sure exactly how that works for her now. Is she still even part of the Secret Service? Either way, she might know better."

Lisbon sighed. "Alright, I'll tell her."

Cho smirked. "Good luck."

Lisbon decided she may as well get it over with. She went to her boss's office and asked if she had a minute. Once she heard the team's theory Hightower was more than happy to help, promising to call an old friend and subtly ask around the department to find out if anyone knew, or was connected to a Richard Jenkins.

Lisbon was pleased that this conversation with her boss went better than they tended to on average. Before she could leave politely however Hightower introduced a new topic of conversation. "So I heard you and Special Agent Elliot had dinner together last night," she said.

Lisbon paused, unsure of what exactly he boss was getting at. "Uh, yes we did," Lisbon admitted. "He asked me after you introduced us yesterday."

"I'm glad," Hightower told her. "As I told you, I'm hoping to lure Bill over to the CBI. The man knows how to deal with the press, garner positive publicity, that sort of thing. And he's moved up the ranks in the Secret Service faster than almost anyone I know. I think he'd be an asset to the organization. Anything you could do to talk up the CBI, show off the city, et cetera, would be greatly appreciated."

Lisbon paused, unsure of what her boss was asking. "Uh, ma'am?" she asked. Was her boss trying to pimp her out to lure in a potential new employee?

Hightower laughed. "I'm not asking you to do something you don't want to do or that makes you uncomfortable Lisbon," she told her. "Just, I don't know, keep it in mind. He's a nice guy. But I'm not going to force you to have dinner with him if you don't like him. I just thought since the two of you had gone out already…"

"That if we went out again I should be positive, not complain about the worst parts of the job," Lisbon concluded.

"Exactly," Hightower told her.

"Well," Lisbon said, now absolutely desperate to leave the office. "I'll keep it in mind like you said, but I don't even know if we'll be seeing each other again."

Hightower just smiled the cryptic smile that Lisbon hated so very much. "Okay, thanks Lisbon," she told her. "I'll look into the Jenkins thing for you."

"Thank you Ma'am." Lisbon said before practically running from the office.

What in the hell just happened? She wondered to herself.

xxxxx

Lisbon walked into the CBI the next morning optimistically. She was certain that the team would be able to figure out if the information had been compromised now that they had a plan (thanks to Jane). She hoped so at least. Hightower had been hinting earlier (before she started potentially encouraging her female agents to sell themselves to attract members of the Secret Service) that if the Serious Crimes Unit hadn't made any significant progress by the end of the week, the case would be turned over to another, less high profile, team.

Lisbon hated leaving things unfinished and was hoping that she'd at least be able to say the SCU had figured _something _out. They hadn't found a connection between Jenkins and the Department of Homeland Security yet, but Lisbon was still optimistic. It was early days. And both Hightower and Cho were going to ask around.

She greeted her team plus Jane before going into her office to check her e-mail and get start her day. Suddenly she heard a knock on her office door. She had a personal delivery.

Apparently someone had sent her a bouquet of mixed flowers. She thanked the kid who'd brought them to her and grabbed the card.

"Teresa, I was thinking of you. Hope to see you again soon, - Bill," it read.

She smiled as she looked at her flowers. Well this was unexpected, and really quite nice. Then she frowned slightly. But wasn't it also coming on a bit strong? They'd only been to dinner once and he was already sending flowers? She hadn't thought the date was spectacular. Could he have felt differently? Or was there something else going on? Good Lord, what if Hightower had given him a hint? Or even sent the flowers herself?

Lisbon forced herself to calm down. Seriously what was wrong with her? Someone sends her flowers as a gesture and she second-guesses it? Bill was just trying to be nice! She'd been promised herself she'd give him another try. If he called and asked her to dinner again she was going to say yes, and that was that.

With a decisive nod Lisbon shot another glance at the flowers. They _were_ lovely, if a bit over the top. She glanced towards the door. She was unsurprised to see four people loitering right outside her office.

"Oh, just come in!" she said in exasperation.

Sheepishly her team (plus Jane) filed into her office one by one.

"Oh they're beautiful Boss," Van Pelt said immediately.

"Yeah, they are nice," Lisbon admitted.

"So who sent them?" Cho asked, as usual deciding there was no point in beating around the bush.

Lisbon blushed, "Agent Elliot," she admitted. May as well just say it. After all, they'd never leave until she admitted it, or until Jane stole the card.

Van Pelt awed. Rigsby smirked. Cho's facial expression didn't change. Jane looked… indifferent? Lisbon wasn't sure. She couldn't quite read his expression.

"Nice flowers," Cho said at last.

"Do women like that that sort of thing?" Rigsby asked. "I mean, really, flowers after the first date?" he clarified after four pairs of eyes swung towards him in disbelief.

"Depends on the woman," Jane told him with a shrug. "Remember…"

"Yeah, yeah," Rigsby told him. "Love and affection, I know."

"I told you if you had to pay for it you'd remember," Jane reminded him.

Lisbon decided she didn't want to know.

"Alright, well if everybody's done gawking at my flowers, could we please get back to work now?" she asked in an attempt to get her office back.

Amid a chorus of muttered "Yeah's" and "Sorry Boss's" her team filed back out of her office. "They really are lovely Lisbon," Van Pelt told her. "Very romantic."

Lisbon sighed. "Yeah, they are."

When her team was out of sight Lisbon sat back down at her desk and grabbed a folder, her face stretching into a grin.

From his hiding spot near her doorway Jane frowned.

He walked back to the bullpen and flopped down on the couch. This was really not good.

Apparently he was an even bigger idiot than he'd originally thought.

He'd realized that he'd been pretending he was still a part of her team for the entire case, that he'd missed belonging with a group of people. And he'd realized that he needed her, that she was fabulous at her job, that he trusted her with his life. And then he'd realized he'd missed her horribly, that he desperately wanted their friendship back.

Now that he wasn't angry anymore he'd realized that Teresa Lisbon was his best friend.

Also, it was entirely possible he was in love with her.

He wondered how long it'd been. It had to have started before Red John. His feelings were probably part of the reason why he'd been so hurt by her betrayal in the first place. He must have been in love with her since before their falling out. He'd just been in denial. After considering the issue for a few minutes Jane realized that he'd probably never be able to pinpoint the exact moment. It'd most likely been coming on gradually. The two of them had been spending an awful lot of time together by the end.

He was an idiot for ever telling himself that he'd come back to the CBI because the case was interesting. It was, but there were always interesting cases. No, he'd been intrigued by the case originally, but his interest had practically doubled when he'd found out who was taking lead in the investigation. Subconsciously he'd wanted to see her. Maybe selfishly originally, to show her that he didn't need her, that he'd moved on, that she hadn't affected him in the slightest. That he could forget her. But like he'd said, he was an idiot. In the end he'd just wanted to be near her again.

Well, all of his subconscious motivations had just gotten a massive kick into his conscious mind.

Because it appeared he had competition.

Competition who sent Lisbon flowers that made her smile prettily to herself.

And his competition was also undoubtedly less objectionable a romantic partner for the lovely agent than himself. _Everybody_ liked Elliot after all. Hightower was all for it, and was clearly doing everything she could to promote the friendship between Lisbon and the newcomer. It appeared she had a new favourite, while Jane, an old favourite, had been forgotten. Minelli's preference was even more obvious. After all, he'd made his opinion clear. Jane had seen the look in the ex-director's eyes. He'd wanted Jane as far away from Lisbon as possible.

And Jane couldn't even blame him. After all, as just her consultant, Jane was dangerous to Agent Lisbon.

Even Rigsby and Van Pelt at the very least seemed positive towards Elliot. Well, Jane amended; Rigsby probably didn't care one way or the other. But Jane was pretty sure Van Pelt liked the idea of the other man at the very least, if the gushing over the flowers he'd seen earlier was anything to go by.

Only Cho was the last holdout, and the agent hadn't actually said anything negative, just promised to look into Elliot for Jane.

Sure, Jane'd always been suspicious of Elliot himself, but he could hardly trust his own reaction anymore. His subconscious would almost certainly have hated any new man in Lisbon's life, good reason or no.

So he guessed the question became, what, if anything, was he going to do about it?

And did he even have the right to do anything? After all, if she was happy... Even though he was in love with her, there was no guarantee she felt the same way at all. She was fond of him certainly, didn't want to see him dead absolutely, but that was a far cry from in love with. And after the last year, he wasn't sure he could justify shoving himself into her life. Especially since there was also no guarantee that the relationship would work.

But on the other hand, there was no guarantee that she and Elliot would work either.

And back when they were friends, he and Lisbon had gotten along quite well. Maintained the friendship and the working relationship without any major hitches for years. Sure, they'd had a few fights, the odd screaming match, a couple of day long sulks, but they'd always found their way back to each other. They'd just... _worked_.

And now that Red John was gone, there was no good reason to keep the relationship strictly platonic anymore.

But still, after all he'd put her through…

Jane sighed. This would require some careful thought, and quickly. Elliot appeared to be circling, and the man had made _his_ intentions absolutely clear.

If Jane wanted to get into the game he needed to make a move.

xxxxx

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: I know this one's short. But there was nowhere else to cut the chapters that made any sort of sense. And the next one's long, so that should make up for it.

xxxxx

Chapter 11

xxxxx

It was just after lunch and Jane was still sulking on his couch. The rest of the team had decided to just let him be. Clearly something (and Cho had his suspicions about what that might be) was irritating the blond. Not that Cho was exactly having a great afternoon either. His contact at Homeland Security had finally gotten back to him. Then Cho had taken a few hours to do his own digging, wanting to make absolutely sure before he mentioned his suspicions to anybody. But unfortunately, it appeared everything he did find confirmed his theory.

It was time to tell the team.

"Hey Van Pelt," he called across the room. "You find anything?"

She looked up shaking her head. "No," she told him. "I mean, I've managed to get employee numbers for everyone involved in the hiring process for the job Jenkins was after, but I've only been able to confirm the identity of about half of the committee, and so far no connection to Jenkins."

"But if you had a name," Cho told her slowly, "You could compare it to the numbers you have?"

"Sure," Van Pelt told him. "It might take a while to get the information, but sure. Why?"

Cho sighed. "I might have something."

All three members of the bullpen turned to him in interest. "Great!" Rigsby told him. "What is it?"

Cho shook his head, "Come on," he told them. "We've got to talk to Lisbon."

Rigsby and Van Pelt exchanged serious looks. Cho was being unusually reticent, even for him. This wasn't going to be good. Especially if he wanted back-up just to talk to Lisbon.

Wordlessly the four of them made their way to their boss's office for the second time that day.

Lisbon looked up from her computer when she heard the knock on the door. She grinned when she saw her team, "Please tell me you didn't come to talk about my flowers again," she told them.

"No," Cho told her quickly. "We need to talk."

"And all of you needed to be here for this?" she asked playfully.

"Yes," Cho told her.

Then she noticed the expressions on her team's faces, all of them serious, if a bit confused. She sobered immediately. "Close the door," she told Jane, who was the last one in the room. "What have you found?" she asked Cho.

He took a breath. "You know I said I know someone at the Department of Homeland Security?" he asked, glancing around the room.

"Yeah," she told him.

"Well, I called him to ask about Jenkins," Cho told her.

"Did your guy know him?" Lisbon asked.

"Not exactly," Cho told her.

"Okay..." Lisbon said, slightly confused. If this wasn't about Jenkins then what?

Cho paused again, not sure how she'd react to what he was about to say. "A couple of days ago I also called him about Elliot," he told her, glancing briefly in Jane's direction. "Just to see what he knew. After all if the guy was Secret Service and he was going to be working here I figured..."

"Know your friends," Lisbon filled in, her stomach turning to lead. "Cho, I've known you've been reading CBI personnel files for years now. You're thorough, some might say nosy," she told him. "Your looking into Elliot isn't a surprise. What did your guy say?" she asked, ignoring Van Pelt's concerned expression.

"Nothing very good," Cho admitted. "He told me that though nothing had been proven there may have been a _reason_ that Elliot moved up the ranks in the Secret Service so quickly, and not a good one. There were whispers of blackmail, of him having information that he shouldn't have. It's part of the reason he's been between assignments so long. No one wants to work with him if they can help it."

"Oh god," Lisbon whispered.

"Like I said," Cho hastened to qualify, "Nothing was ever _proven_."

"But if he knows where all the bodies are buried, people might not want to stir things up" Lisbon filled in.

"Yeah," Cho told her. "And there's more."

Lisbon gestured for him to continue.

"My buddy said he'd only met Elliot personally a handful of times. Just casually, in a big group of friends. Once Elliot brought his best friend. My guy said he was the same as Elliot, looked to be just a little on the shady side sometimes. Anyway, he said he only remembers the guy because while they were at the bar, my buddy had the misfortune to have to sit beside the idiot for about an hour. The guy wouldn't stop making comments about the waitress."

"And?" Lisbon asked. The fact that Elliot's best friend was apparently a bit sleazy, while not an asset, certainly wasn't incriminating.

"The guy was Jenkins' brother-in-law," Cho finished.

Lisbon put her head in her hands briefly. "Okay," she said when she looked up. "We have to look into this obviously, but we look into it very, very _quietly_. Does everyone understand?" She got a series of nods in response. "Good," she told them. "Because we cannot accuse a highly commended member of the Secret Service unless we're absolutely sure. I don't care if half of his own organization secretly hates him. It doesn't matter. If this goes south then we're the ones up the creek without a paddle. Am I being clear?" she asked again.

Upon receiving another round of nods, she continued. "I'm dead serious about this. No one mentions this to _anybody_ outside the team. This could be career suicide. And all we have right now is circumstantial evidence." Then she paused. "Oh my god."

"What?" Van Pelt asked.

"He was_ there_," Lisbon hissed.

"What?" Cho asked this time.

"He was _there,_" Lisbon repeated. "I just assumed it was a coincidence, but how could I not have realized? Especially since he's Secret Service. I mean, he already technically works for Homeland Security. How could I have been so stupid? Elliot was at the pub that night," Lisbon explained. "I saw him! He helped me when I tripped. He could have been following us, or Jenkins," she trailed off.

Nobody in the room seemed to know what to say to that.

"There is one potentially good thing," Cho told her, deciding that since he'd started this, he may as well do all the talking.

"What's that?" Lisbon asked him dryly.

"Van Pelt's managed to find a list of the employee codes of the people on the selection committee for the position Jenkins is up for," Cho told her. "That way if we can get Elliot's we can compare them," he pointed out. "It apparently might take some time though."

Lisbon glanced at Van Pelt for confirmation. The other agent nodded.

"Okay," Lisbon said. "You work on that," she told her. "The rest of you, I want you to start trying to find anything and everything you can that connects Jenkins to Elliot, or Elliot to the position, or for that matter, Elliot to any potential blackmail allegations. And like I said, we keep this absolutely _quiet_."

"What are you going to do boss," Rigsby asked tentatively.

Lisbon sighed, "I've got to talk to Hightower," she told him. "She's not going to be pleased that we're investigating the same person she's trying to court over to the CBI."

The rest of the group winced, knowing full well how pleasant that conversation would turn out to be.

"Point out the potential embarrassment to the CBI if we're right," Jane told her. "That should convince her to at least wait a few days."

Lisbon nodded. "Okay, let's do this," she told the team.

The rest of them stood up and went to leave, suddenly Van Pelt turned, "Hey Lisbon?"

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry," she said.

"What?" Lisbon asked. Then Van Pelt gestured to the flowers in the corner of her office. "Oh!" Lisbon exclaimed. "Don't worry about it," she told the redhead.

The young woman looked like she was about to say something, when Lisbon continued. "I knew there was something off about him right from the start, I just couldn't put my finger on it," she explained. "Now I know. I mean, he was probably only going out to dinner with me to find out if we knew anything about his involvement anyway." And that was more than a little mortifying, Lisbon had to admit.

All four of them looked like they were about to interrupt at that, "Oh, please don't," she told them. "We all know it's almost certainly true. And if he did actually like me it just makes this whole thing that much worse, doesn't it? Let's say he does like me; that still doesn't make what he did okay. He's a jerk. I've already met my share, and I'm sure I'll meet more. It happens," Lisbon told them trying to brush it off.

"Still," Van Pelt said

But Lisbon was done discussing it. "Go to work," she ordered. "I've got to schedule an emergency meeting with Hightower," she told them wryly.

Wordlessly her three agents left her office. To her annoyance Jane did not.

"He's an idiot," Jane told her.

"Jane..." Lisbon said. "It's not that I don't appreciate what you're trying to do but..."

"He's an idiot," Jane repeated. "Worse than that, he's cruel, dishonest, and yes, you're right, on some level he's probably using you. But he is attracted to you. Evil or no, he still has eyes. He liked you Lisbon. He did. I know it's probably not much consolation, but part of the reason you didn't realize you were being used is because it wasn't all a con. The man definitely checked you out at least once when I was in the room."

"Jane," she repeated, torn between amusement and hurt at his analysis. "Are you just telling me a pack of lies to make me feel better, or is that the truth?"

"Does it matter?" he asked.

She considered that. Whether Elliot had actually liked her or not didn't make her feel much better. She didn't really care about his feelings one way or the other. The fact that Jane had told her that to try and make her feel better on the other hand did mean something. "No," she said finally. "I guess it doesn't."

Jane nodded. "That's what I thought. But for the record it was the truth."

"Thanks," she replied.

"Always," he told her. "And we will get him, and we'll make him sorry he ever tangled with you," Jane promised her.

"Jane," she said warningly this time, her mind rushing through a million scenarios of how _Jane_ might be able to make someone sorry.

"Oh relax Lisbon," he told her. "I'm not about to go and hypnotize Elliot into submission or something," he told her. "I'll stay on my couch like a good boy. After this week, I think it'll be a while before I defy a direct order of yours again wouldn't you say?"

She smiled. "Get out of here," she told him affectionately.

"Let me know if you want company for that meeting with Hightower," Jane called over his shoulder as he walked out. "After all, those meetings always tended to go more smoothly when we took her on together as opposed to one at a time."

"I may just take you up on that offer," Lisbon muttered as she picked up her phone.

Jane smirked, "Like I said, if you need me I'll be on my couch."

Lisbon smiled briefly before picking up her phone. "Hi Kelly," she said to Hightower's secretary. "It's Lisbon. If she's in I need to speak to her asap. It's important. Half an hour? Thanks."

xxxxx

All things considered the meeting with Hightower went far better than Lisbon had been anticipating. The Director had been understandably annoyed and angry that her potential new employee might in fact be involved in blackmail and information theft. Still, once Hightower moved past the instant denial, Jane's persuasive tongue eventually brought her around. After briefly explaining the situation and the team's suspicions Lisbon had stepped back and let Jane outline the potential benefits to the CBI. Not only would they narrowly escape hiring someone who would undoubtedly cause dissention within the organization, but think of the public coup associated with exposing a corrupt member of the Secret Service.

Lisbon had been almost amused at the way Hightower's eyes lit up at the possibility. Jane kept going until Hightower'd practically promised to do anything in her power to help them get Elliot. Jane certainly hadn't lost his particular touch with the boss.

Apparently Hightower agreed with her. "You know, it's been nice having you around again Patrick," she'd told him when he'd finished convincing her that Elliot was not going to be an asset to the CBI.

Jane had positively beamed in response.

"Even if it is only for a few days," Hightower had added. "I suppose you'll be leaving us soon, off on some case or other. Even if Lisbon's team has proven they're more than capable of completing their job without you, you'll be missed. These past few days have been like old times."

Jane hadn't replied beyond a quick smile, so Lisbon had jumped in. "We absolutely appreciate Jane's help," she told her boss. "And it was nice seeing you again obviously," she added.

Was nice, Jane thought. Past tense.

"Well," Hightower said brightly. "As nice as this little reunion's been Patrick, I need to talk to Agent Lisbon about our plan of action, so if you wouldn't mind..."

"Of course," Jane said. "Always a pleasure Madeleine," he added as he left the office.

Jane practically shuffled his way back to the bullpen. Apparently Hightower and Lisbon had no notion that he might stick around beyond the case. And why should they after all? He was a freelance consultant. And he'd always been a bit of a pain. Besides, after what had happened with Hightower's latest potential golden boy, she probably wasn't in any hurry to get another one.

He walked back into the bullpen. "How'd the meeting go?" Rigsby asked him.

Jane looked up, "Hm? Oh, great," he told the other man. "Hightower's on board."

"Good," Rigsby replied. "Hey Jane?"

"Yeah?" he asked as he sat down on your couch.

"It was nice having you around again, for the case," Rigsby told him.

"Thanks," Jane told him sincerely.

"Yeah, well, since you're probably going to be gone soon, I figured..." Rigsy trailed off. "I mean, the case is almost done so..."

"I got it," Jane told him tersely as he lay down. And he did. He absolutely got it.

Jane let himself wallow in self pity for a few minutes. It was his own fault, he thought. After all, he had told them all he was just back for the one case. What were they supposed to think? And what had he expected? That he'd come back and do such a brilliant job that they'd all just beg him to stay?

Oh for crying out loud, he had. That's exactly what he'd thought. Somewhere buried deep, deep down. He'd been hoping that he'd come back, he'd see the team, they'd decide that they couldn't do without him and Hightower (and Lisbon) would be begging him to stay forever.

Jane almost groaned out loud. Of all the idiotic...

He was having quite the number of revelations surrounding his own stupidity this week.

So what was he going to do about it? After all, if he just gave up he deserved his lot. And it looked like Elliot was almost certainly going to be out of the picture. Which was a stroke of luck he certainly didn't deserve, though he wasn't about to complain. And Lisbon seemed to be feeling pretty positively towards him again. She might not object to his sticking around.

After all, she hadn't ever actually said he _couldn't _stay, just that she wasn't expecting him to. But he'd never exactly _asked_ her if he could.

And if she _was_ okay with taking him on as her consultant again, it might be a good time to slip in that he also happened to be in love with her.

Of course neither of those issues were things one could just blurt out. Jane winced. He had a mental image of him stuttering out a disjointed explanation to Lisbon while she watched in complete incomprehension. Clearly that wasn't what he wanted.

He desperately needed a plan now.

xxxxx

TBC

I might put up 12 today as well. Because I like it, and unlike these two, something actually happens.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: So, um guys, it was at about this chapter that I realized something, I don't actually write that much straight-up romance. And there's a reason for that. So, bear with me a bit in this chapter would you?

Also, to all the Elliot fans, I'm sorry, but he's a shmuck in the original story and he's a shmuck in this. He should count his blessings that I don't have him get hit by a bus.

xxxxx

Chapter 12

xxxxx

When Lisbon left Hightower's office she felt much calmer. For all that she wasn't all that fond of her boss on a personal level, there was no denying that Hightower knew what she was doing professionally. Having her boss firmly in their corner made Lisbon that much more comfortable about the whole situation. Now they just needed to find some proof.

Lisbon wandered into the bullpen to see how the team was getting along. When she was there she found herself pleasantly surprised. Rigsby and Van Pelt were deep in conversation at their desks, she assumed about the case, while Cho seemed to have disappeared. But in the far corner of the room she saw Jane scribbling away at one of the desks over something or other, and just behind him stood Harry Cornish who was alternating between looking out the window and supervising Jane.

"Harry!" she greeted the other man in pleasure.

"Agent Lisbon," he replied, just as pleased. "I was hoping you'd emerge from your meeting before I had to leave," he said. "I hope it went well."

"Very well," she confirmed, with a significant look at Rigsby and Van Pelt, hoping they'd realize that meant that Hightower was on board. Both of them nodded, and got back to work.

Confident that her message had been received Lisbon walked over to talk to Harry. "How are you?" she asked.

"I'm good," he confirmed. "In town a couple of days to order supplies for the store and things like that. Needed to get my truck back from that one," he added gesturing towards Jane, who was still scribbling furiously.

Lisbon laughed, "And what exactly is 'that one' doing?" she asked Harry curiously.

"When he stayed with me for a couple of days he got a good look at the boat I was building. Before he left he demanded that I build him one of his own," Harry explained. "He's apparently writing out a set of instructions and drawing a schematic, God help me."

Lisbon laughed. "Are you telling me there's something Patrick Jane _isn't_ naturally gifted at?" she asked.

Harry grinned, "It's not commonly known Agent," he said as he leaned in conspiratorially, "But Patrick Jane couldn't hammer a nail in straight if his life depended on it, let alone draw a working blueprint. We're going out together afterwards to look at supplies, at which time it will undoubtedly be my unhappy job to explain to him that I can't make his boat to his exact specifications, unless he wants it to end up at the bottom of the San Francisco bay on its first voyage."

Lisbon laughed. "Then why let him make a drawing at all?"

Harry shrugged. "He insisted and I didn't see the point in talking him out of it. Besides, at least it'll give me a general idea of what he wants."

"That's true," Lisbon agreed. Then she paused. "How are you?" she asked him seriously. When he looked confused by her tone she explained, "I haven't seen you since, well since..."

"Since that night at Clara's house," he finished for her.

"Yeah," she confirmed. "I wanted to thank you," she added. "For what you did, for getting the blankets, and showing us the back route, and calling the paramedics, and of course the local doctor. It really was a big help."

"Of course," he told her waving off her compliments. "Don't even mention it. I was just happy I could be any help at all. I rather suspect you and Agent Cho did most of the hard work." When Lisbon just waved him off he continued, "I'm told that the Sheriff will make a full recovery?"

"Yes," Lisbon agreed. "She was lucky."

"So it would seem," Harry murmured.

"Have you spoken to Clara?" Lisbon asked. "I hope she's alright. I mean with all that happened, first in the office, then at her house. I can't even imagine how she must be feeling."

"At the moment I think she's grieving," Harry told her. "And of course she feels betrayed."

"Yeah," Lisbon said softly. "I can understand that. She worked in the same office as Jenkins all those years after all."

"Exactly," Harry agreed. "She's feeling vulnerable. Doesn't know who she can trust."

"I guess all breaches of trust are pretty devastating, even if sometimes they're necessary," Lisbon told him softly

Her comment seemed to surprise Harry. "Do you really think a breach of trust could ever be necessary, or even justifiable?" he asked her as he moved closer towards the window so their conversation would be more private.

"Of course," Lisbon told him in surprise. She glanced around the room to make sure no one was paying any attention, but Van Pelt and Rigsby were both focussed on their computer screens and Jane seemed intent on his diagram. She took a step closer to the window as well, and lowered her voice. "I'm certainly not _advocating _it," she explained to Harry. "And in most cases it's obviously reprehensible and hurtful. But not in all situations. I can think of a few times, some from my own life, where it absolutely was justifiable to break a trust, and absolutely necessary."

"Interesting," said Harry. "I won't ask you for specifics of course, I assume whatever it is was intensely private. But your comments seem to support something I've long thought was true, but never really been able to prove. I'd like your opinion on it as a woman."

"Of course," Lisbon told him, not noticing that Jane's pencil slowed down.

Harry turned towards her. "I've long thought that men might be more straightforward than woman as it were. Men are either black or white. For example, I can't think of any scenario where I think I'd be justified in breaking someone's trust, which isn't to say that I _haven't_ done it of course, I'm not trying to give you that impression. Women I think, see the world in shades of grey. They see all the possibilities, and the subtleties involved. With men, it tends to be one thing or another."

"That may be true," she agreed. "Though I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask," she added. "I spend my days surrounded by criminals, all of whom lie about anything and everything."

"Oh," Harry exclaimed. "I'm not trying to argue that one sex is more trustworthy than the other. I'm sure both have a roughly equal propensity to lie, what I'm wondering about is a woman's attitude towards a lie."

Lisbon paused. "I see. Well, I can't speak for my entire gender, but like I said, there are circumstances where I believe trust should be broken. For example, would you break a promise to someone you cared about to save their life?" she asked. "Even if they hated you for it?"

Harry paused, "I'm not sure that'd ever be necessary."

"But if it was?" she pressed.

He watched her very closely for a moment. "You've done it, haven't you?" he said finally.

"I didn't say that," she told him.

"You didn't have to," he murmured. When she flushed he continued, "I'm sorry; I said I wouldn't pry," he told her.

"It's alright," she told him. "It was a while ago."

"You're sure it was necessary?" he asked her.

"Absolutely," she replied firmly.

He scanned her face again, but seemed to accept that. "And were you forgiven?" he asked softly.

Lisbon paused, "In some ways yes" she told him. "But I'm not sure if I'll ever be completely forgiven."

Their conversation was momentarily disrupted by Jane slamming his knee into a desk drawer. He cursed quietly, before apologizing and going back to scribbling furiously on his boat.

Harry turned back to Lisbon, clearly intent on finishing the conversation. "But you have no regrets," he checked, though he was fairly certain of the answer.

"No, no regrets," she told him quietly. "I'd rather know that my friend is alive even if he's not my friend anymore, then dead and assured of my faithfulness."

Harry paused. After a moment's careful consideration he replied. "You're an extraordinary woman Teresa Lisbon," he told her. "And whoever your friend is, he's an idiot for not realizing what you've done for him."

"He's not an idiot," Lisbon told him with a shake of her head. "The trust I broke was an important one. But thank you."

Harry grinned. "You make me wish Sacramento was a little closer to the beach," he told her. "I think I'd like to get to know you better. You strike me as a woman worth knowing," he told her playfully.

Lisbon grinned back, understanding perfectly why he and Jane got along so well. "And what would Clara think of that?" she asked him saucily, as she too moved past the seriousness of their conversation to something lighter.

Harry gave an exaggerated sigh. "You know, sometimes a man and a woman really are just good friends," he told her.

"And sometimes they're just two idiots deluding themselves," she shot back.

He laughed, "True. Too true Agent Lisbon," he told her. Then he called to Jane, "You just about ready Pat?" he asked.

"Just a few seconds," Jane told him, still scribbling furiously.

"I hope you don't mind Agent Lisbon," Harry said to her. "But with your permission I'd like to steal your consultant for a few hours. I'll need him to explain his diagram and to try and explain what he'd like with his boat. Hopefully between the two of us, we can come to a compromise that will actually be seaworthy."

Lisbon grinned, "No, that's fine," she told him. "At the moment we're waiting for information to be sent to us, or for people to get back to us. We don't need Jane for that."

"Then I'll just take him with me so that he's not always getting underfoot," he told her as Jane stood up. "Ready now Pat?" he asked.

"Yeah," Jane told him. "You go, I'll meet you by the elevator."

"Okay," Harry agreed. "Agent Lisbon, as always, a pleasure."

"Likewise," she told him. She turned and watched Jane gather up all of his papers. To her surprise he finished by placing a single origami frog on the corner of the desk. He sent her a significant look. Then he abruptly left the room without saying a word to anybody.

Lisbon watched him go in amusement before wandering over to the desk to grab the frog, catching it just as it jumped off the edge. She knew it was for her. Origami had been one of Jane's favourite methods of apologizing for years now. She wondered what this one was for.

She picked it up with a smile. Though not always effective at obtaining her forgiveness the frogs were certainly cute. Suddenly she noticed that the one in her hand appeared to be different. It was covered in writing. Glancing around surreptitiously, she slowly unfolded it. "_Lisbon_," it said at the top. "_You'll want to read this in your office. Trust me._"

Lisbon frowned briefly. What could the letter possibly say that he thought she should read it in private? Oh well, she thought to herself. Why not?

Curiosity well and truly piqued Lisbon tried not to walk too quickly to her office so as not to arouse the suspicion of either Rigsby or Van Pelt. Once she was safely inside she shut the door behind her and sat down on her couch to read her letter.

_Dear Teresa,_

_I've known for a while that I owe__ you an apology. But I've never seemed to be able to spit one out. I know it may surprise you - you've seen me blurt out almost anything to almost anyone probably more times than you probably care to remember - but I've never been very good at explanations when they're personal. And this is very personal. So I thought I'd give writing it down a try._

_When I first came back to the CBI I told myself it was just because of the case, that the case was interesting, and that I wasn't going to let you stop me from working on it. I think I also wanted to shove in your face that I could be around you, really let you know how little your betrayal had affected me. I know you won't hate me for that, though you probably should. In fact, you probably knew I'd act that way before I did._

_But besides all that, I wanted to show you that you still were__ absolutely not forgiven for Red John. That I still didn't agree with you. I wanted to let you know that I still thought it was all your fault. I need to be absolutely clear here; I was an idiot. You have no idea how many times that point has been driven home to me these last few days. I've lost count myself. After what happened to Lou, well, I was forced to recognize how really good you are at your job, how much I need someone like you around. I couldn't help comparing what it was like to work with the both of you, and you came out on top in every single comparison I could think of. You really are extraordinary Teresa. When you took charge at the crime scene... And then you didn't even threaten to shoot me afterwards (which I also know I deserved)._

_Recognizing your abilities__ forced to think about you, about what you'd done, and about Red John. And each time I do I can only come to one conclusion: that you were absolutely right to do what you did. I'm not going to try and tell you that it didn't hurt, that I wasn't angry, or even that I agree with the decision completely. From my own perspective at the time (and you know roughly what that was, so I won't repeat it), what you did was a betrayal, and your decision crushed me. But you were right to make it. I've always been stupid about Red John. You know that. But you saved my life, and you probably saved your own. You definitely saved the lives of any potential future victims._

At this point there was a large line across the paper where Jane's pen had slipped.

_Oh, don't say that you think I haven't forgiven you for it! __(Yes, I'm eavesdropping in on your conversation. Don't scowl at me Teresa; does it honestly surprise you?) Don't you know? But then how could you... I tried at the hospital but... Oh I'm an idiot. I know I said that once already, but trust me, it bears repeating. Lisbon, listen to me very carefully, and if you believe nothing else in this entire letter please believe this. I have forgiven you, utterly and completely. I think I forgave you long ago, without even realizing. I was angry and petty, but secretly I missed you. We'd been so close after all..._

_And besides that, you always managed to make me feel better. You were there. You always saved me, no matter what trouble I got myself into. In fact, I seriously think that the only reason I made it through the last year alive was that any time I found myself about to do something unbelievably stupid I heard a voice in my head telling me not to. And now I suspect that voice was yours, and I really don't want to lose it._

_I know I've done this all wrong, and backwards, and just generally horribly, but I'm trying to tell you that I want to come back to the CBI, to your team. I want to see if we can work together again. I think that's the real reason I came back for the case. Subconsciously I missed you, but my subconscious, being well aware of how stubborn and prideful my conscious mind could be, had to trick me into it. Sometimes I suspect that you'd get along with my subconscious mind quite well. But I'm getting off topic. If you'll let me I want to come back to work with you, and only you. It's no fun working with anybody else, though I spent a year trying to convince myself that it was._

_T__hese past couple days I got to spend some time with you again, real time, after I'd managed to stop being angry. And it all came back, the time we spent together, our friendship. Without the anger, the loss of you hit me like an ache. I tried to pretend that everything was just like old times, that I was still a member of your team, that we'd go on like we were indefinitely. That things were like they used to be. But today I realized that they weren't. That everyone was expecting me to leave the CBI any day now, without any intention of coming back. But I don't want to leave. I miss everything, having people near me who care, the team, but mostly I just miss you, and I want you in my life. Always._

_I've always trusted you, I have. I was angry for a while, but even when I was angry I knew I could trust you to take care of me. I just made the mistake of thinking that all law enforcement professionals were created equal. I know you probably can't trust me anymore, and I know I've probably broken your trust more times than you care to remember, but all I'm asking for is the chance to try and win you back. _

_We've always worked well together. The only real sticking point between us was Red John, but that's gone now. Thanks to you. My lovely Lisbon... I know that I'm only alive because of you. And I can't thank you enough for it. And now I want to spend the rest of my life with you, since it's because of you that I have it._

_I understand if I'm too late. If too much time has passed. But I had to try; I'm not quite ready to give up the possibility of you. And if you think you could still trust me, if you think you could forgive me, even after all I've put you through... Well, you should come and find me. Or actually, since I'm going out, I'll come and find you. Because you were right that day at the hospital, I know where you are. You won't even have to say anything if you don't want to. After all, I've always been able to read your face, though maybe not as well as I've claimed. But I know I'll be able to tell this at a glance._

_Just, just think about it. Please._

_Love_

_Patrick_

_xxxxx_

By the time Lisbon finished her letter her hands were quite literally shaking. She let the letter drop onto her lap and leaned back against the couch. Jane hadn't been kidding when he'd said she should read it in her office. If she looked anything like what she felt. She... she... She needed to walk. She jumped up from the couch, intending to pace around her office, thankful that the blinds were closed. She made it as far as the door when she realized that her hands weren't the only things shaking. Quickly making her way back to the couch she collapsed back down again in relief.

He couldn't possibly mean what she thought he meant. He, he just couldn't. Could he?

She grabbed the letter again desperately. She'd always been irritatingly attracted to her irritating consultant. But with the spectre of Red John looming, she'd always known the attraction was practically suicidal so she'd squashed it. Towards the end of their working relationship Lisbon admitted that she may have entertained a few brief thoughts of what if? But Jane's reaction to the Red John debacle had destroyed those little illusions pretty quickly.

But... but, oh...

Lisbon skimmed the letter a third time. How could he possibly think that she didn't want him to come back? Sure she'd never actually _said_ that she did, but, but... she wasn't that self-sacrificing. She couldn't have borne the rejection if she'd asked and he'd said no and left again. And he was the one that had been so angry. How was she supposed to know that he'd changed his mind so completely? Yes, he was irresponsible some of the time, and sometimes she admittedly could quite happily have killed him, but he was _her _consultant, always had been. He was _her _Jane. And unless she was very much mistaken he wanted her to be _his _Lisbon.

_Oh god..._

Would she take him back? He had the nerve to even _ask_ that? The idiot.

She bolted to her feet. She needed to find him. Right now. Before he spent any more time stupidly thinking he wasn't welcome, that she hadn't missed him. She folded the letter carefully and stuck it in her back pocket, nowhere near ready to part with it. She'd made it halfway across the room, uncaring that her hands were still shaking, when there was a knock on the door. She may have even said, "Come in," she really wasn't all that sure.

Van Pelt opened the door. "Boss, no luck yet getting Elliot's ID number, but Hightower called me and said she had an idea. I was looking through a couple of databases and I may have a couple of leads, and... Good Lord Lisbon! What's wrong?" Van Pelt asked suddenly. She'd been so intent on giving her report that she hadn't actually taken a good look at her boss. When she did finally notice Lisbon's appearance, Van Pelt saw a woman quite different than the one she was used to. For a start, Lisbon was literally shaking. For another she was white as a sheet and her brain appeared to be working overtime to maintain what little composure she had left.

Van Pelt slowly took her boss's hands – Geez they were like ice, the rookie thought to herself - and led her boss back to the couch. "Lisbon, what is it?" she asked softly. "Is something wrong? Can I do anything?"

Lisbon forced herself to focus on her subordinate. She gave her a shaky smile, and Van Pelt was relieved to see some colour come back into her cheeks. "No, I'm fine," Lisbon insisted. "I promise Grace, I'm fine."

"Are you sure," Van Pelt double checked. "You really don't look well. Do you need me to call a doctor?"

"NO!" Lisbon insisted. "No," she added more calmly. "Sorry, I just... I can't explain right now. But I'm fine. I just need to..."

"You don't _need_ to do anything," Van Pelt informed her. "You are going to go home."

"What?" Lisbon asked surprised. "No, I..."

"I'm not kidding Lisbon," Van Pelt told her. "Don't make me get Hightower's opinion. You were white as a ghost when I walked in here and you're still shaking a bit. We don't need you here this afternoon. It'll be all hurry up and wait here for a while, you know that. And you've been running yourself ragged. And we both know this case got personal in more ways than one. You haven't taken any time off since the day Lou was shot and you need to. We can hold the fort here, I promise. You deserve an afternoon off. You work so hard all the time that no one'll bat an eye, and if you're worried I can tell people you have an appointment. If something comes up we'll call you, I promise."

"Okay," Lisbon agreed finally. Grace was right about one thing, she couldn't just sit around the office with nothing but paperwork to distract her. She'd go crazy in no time. "Maybe you're right, I should just take the afternoon off, maybe grab a nap. I'll see you tomorrow."

Van Pelt did a double take. She hadn't expected it to be anywhere near that easy to actually convince her boss to go home. If Grace had needed any more proof that something was going on that was it. "I'm driving you home," she told Lisbon firmly.

"What?" Lisbon asked. "No! Grace, I'm fine. I can drive myself, I promise, I'm fine."

"Lisbon your hands are still shaking," Van Pelt told her softly. "You really shouldn't drive. You're distracted. If you don't want to tell me what's going on that's fine. But I am taking you home, and that's final."

Lisbon looked at her subordinate and saw certainty. She sighed, "When'd you get to be so stubborn?" she asked.

"Picked it up from my boss," Van Pelt shot back immediately.

Lisbon grinned softly. "Okay, just let me get my stuff. I'll meet you by the elevator."

"Alright," Van Pelt agreed. "But if you're not there in two minutes, I'm coming back and dragging you out myself."

"I could fire you, you know," Lisbon told her.

"But you won't," Van Pelt replied easily.

"Out," Lisbon ordered.

"Two minutes," Van Pelt reminded her.

But two the younger agent's utter shock, Lisbon met her by the elevator less than a minute later. She seemed fine overall, though the woman kept fidgeting with her pockets. Still, Van Pelt knew better than to mention it.

They rode the elevator in silence when Lisbon suddenly spoke, "Van Pelt?" she asked.

"Yes?" the agent replied.

"I need you to promise me that if Jane comes back you'll tell him that I decided to take the afternoon off to rest, but that I need to speak to him," Lisbon told her. "That's very important. He's not to leave before I speak to him."

"Lisbon, I don't think he's planning on rushing off for parts unknown tonight," Van Pelt tried to tell her.

"Still," Lisbon insisted. "I need you to promise me. I need to talk to him; I need to tell him..."

"Here, you can tell him yourself," Van Pelt said with a laugh as they rounded the corner of the building into the parking lot and ran into the consultant himself.

"Jane," Lisbon said in surprise.

"Hi," he said softly as he tried to take in everything about her all at once. She looked lost, and confused, and desperate, and... hopeful? He couldn't be sure, but her eyes were also pleading with him, to what? To understand? To stay? He hoped so.

Lisbon still hadn't replied to his greeting. She couldn't, but her eyes never left his face and she prayed his crazy powers were working.

"Jane," Van Pelt said to him, when it became clear Lisbon wasn't about to speak. "Lisbon isn't feeling well and I was going to drive her home." She noticed that got his attention; he frowned before glancing back at the face of the woman beside her, who was still being strangely docile. "Anyway," Van Pelt continued, "I was going to drive her home, but I was wondering if you'd mind doing it. I'm kind of waiting for a call upstairs."

That got Lisbon's attention. "You're waiting for a call?" she practically shouted. "I told you I could drive myself home. If you're waiting for something you need to stay, it could be important. Maybe I should..."

But Van Pelt interrupted her. "YOU are going HOME," she insisted. "And you're NOT driving yourself." She turned to Jane, "Jane a little help here," she asked desperately.

The consultant grinned, his full smile, the one that tended to leave women breathless. But luckily the one Van Pelt was now immune to. "I'd be happy to take the boss home," he told her.

"Thanks," Van Pelt said gratefully, knowing that if Jane thought Lisbon was feeling even slightly under the weather there was no way he'd let her drive. Plus the new arrangement meant that Van Pelt wouldn't have to practically wrestle Lisbon, who was apparently reviving somewhat, into a vehicle. Jane'd figure out a way to do it though. He'd always been able to convince Lisbon to do things no one else could.

"I'll see you guys later then," she told them both, practically fleeing back into the building before Lisbon had a chance to object.

She did glance back once when she reached the door of the building, just in time to see Jane slip an arm around Lisbon's waist and lead her to his car.

xxxxx

TBC

Okay, so, this is probably the most romantic thing I've ever written for this pair, so be gentle.

Besides, it's _the letter_. It's the adaptation of Wentworth's letter. I dunno, this almost felt like sacrilege to me. I can't even really explain. But I couldn't just cut it, because again, it's _the letter_. So I hope it's okay. Also, no, I'm not sure how Jane fit all that on one piece of paper. He double-sided it and wrote damn small, okay?


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Alright, glad that people liked the letter. It was kind of the devil to write. I know the end of the chapter might have been a bit OOC, but I think it works. Jane's a bit Victorian anyway, and I think Lisbon would probably not quite know exactly how to react to something like that. I'm standing by it. Sorry this one's late. I had an impromptu nap this afternoon, and then decided to answer my reviews. And that took a while, because my reviewers are lovely.

xxxxx

Chapter 13

xxxxx

"Come on dear," Jane said softly, as he led her towards his car. "You're actually trembling," he said in shock (and, to her great irritation, Lisbon also suspected she could hear a bit of pride in his voice). Jane wrapped his arm more tightly around her. "I did tell you to read that letter in your office," he admonished lightly, the urge to protect the still slightly disoriented woman beside him almost overwhelming, perhaps in part because of its rarity. After all, Teresa Lisbon was hardly the trembling type.

"Shut up," Lisbon snapped, deciding that Jane needn't be such a know-it-all. After all, it wasn't like she'd had any warning whatsoever. Really, this was all his fault, and she'd tell him so. Eventually. She kind of liked having his arm around her at the moment. "I did read it in my office," she added indignantly. "Van Pelt came in just as I finished it."

"Ah," he told her with a nod. "Bad luck then."

"I thought you were going shopping with Harry," she asked.

"I was," Jane agreed. "Or that's what I told Harry anyway. But then I begged off, telling him that I'd be absolutely no help. He knows what he's doing and we both know that I don't. I decided I'd yield to his expertise. Plus I needed to see you. I admit I was hoping desperately that you'd come barrelling out that door any minute." He'd actually worked himself into an almost panic. The relief when he did finally see her was almost overwhelming. "Wasn't quite counting on Grace," he admitted as an afterthought.

"Yeah, well, she can be quite stubborn and over-protective," Lisbon told him.

"Wonder who she learned that from," Jane murmured, pulling his companion a little closer to himself, as they approached his car.

Lisbon leaned in obligingly. "Shut up," she muttered again, but her heart wasn't in it.

"I meant it as a compliment dear," Jane said softly. "Loyalty's an admirable trait. And it's getting rarer. Come on, let's get you home," he added as he opened the passenger door of the car for her.

As he moved away slightly so she could get in, Lisbon seemed to realize what was happening. She turned and grabbed onto is jacket. "Jane," she breathed suddenly. She couldn't let him leave without.. without...

"Easy Teresa," he said, his tone soothing. "We've got plenty of time to talk," he promised.

She shook her head violently, "No," she told him.

Jane's heart stopped beating for a minute.

"No," she repeated. "I need you to... How could you... I mean, loyalty... How could you think that I wouldn't want..." she faltered again. "Sometimes you may be the stupidest man I know, do you know that?. How could you possibly think I wanted you to _go_?" she asked him incredulously.

Jane breathed once, before crushing her to his chest. "I almost didn't dare to hope," he whispered. Almost immediately he released her. "Okay, here's what's going to happen," he told her. "You are going to get into the car and I am going to drive you home, because I'm pretty sure neither of us wants to have this conversation standing in the parking lot of the CBI, right?"

Lisbon ran her fingers through his briefly, "You may be right there," she told him glancing up at his face, inordinately pleased that for the first time since she'd read her letter that Jane's control seemed to be fraying a bit at the edges. She squeezed his hand slightly before climbing into the passenger seat without further complaint.

"Thank you," he whispered as he shut the door behind her.

Jane got into the driver side, noting how vulnerable she still looked, despite the insults she'd already hurled his way. He was sure they'd be the first of many. She wasn't physically trembling anymore. But she still looked just a little bit lost. It humbled him a little to know that Agent Teresa Lisbon, the woman who could rush into a dangerous situation involving potentially fatal weaponry without flinching, was completely disarmed by his simply telling her he needed her. If he hadn't already been in love with her, he was certain he'd have fallen then. He took her hand again briefly before starting the car. "I promise to get you home in one piece Teresa," he told her.

She grinned slightly at him. "I'd appreciate that," she replied, trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy.

He nodded.

"I can't believe you still have this thing!" she told him suddenly, gesturing to the Citroen. He'd returned Harry's truck earlier that day.

"It has character!" he insisted. "Don't tell me you're still afraid to ride in it."

"No," Lisbon said with a soft smile. "I trust you."

Jane abruptly shifted back into park, uncaring that they were in the middle of the parking lot. He leaned back against the headrest, trying to collect himself. If she really _meant _that... "Talk," he muttered. "We need to talk. So we're going to get you home and then we'll talk alright?" he repeated, shooting another glance her way.

To his utter shock she was grinning almost wickedly, clearly pleased with herself. "Of course," she told him playfully.

He grinned back, "You're going to be the death of me woman," he practically growled at her.

"Oh, I hope not," she replied coyly.

He laughed. He couldn't help it. God he'd missed her. But she was his now, he was almost sure of it. They just had to have one, admittedly potentially uncomfortable, conversation.

They didn't speak for most of the drive to Lisbon's, both of them apparently deciding that to try would be far too distracting. Jane noticed that Lisbon didn't seem to be able to keep her eyes off him. She kept glancing at him almost every five seconds, like she was afraid he'd disappear. Of course, the only reason he knew that was that he was looking at her almost as frequently for much the same reason. He didn't think she minded the attention though. Not if her playful rebuke was anything to go by. "I thought you were supposed to drive me home because I was too distracted," she told him. "Seems you're not much better."

Jane grinned, "Can you blame me?" he asked. But to Lisbon's amusement, he kept his eyes firmly fixed on the road for the rest of the drive home.

They got to Lisbon's apartment eventually. Jane waited patiently behind her (right behind her) for her to open the door, and he kept a hand lightly on her waist (which she still didn't mind).

They didn't speak when they walked inside either. Lisbon turned to Jane, feeling nervous. All of her apprehensions, which had briefly disappeared in the car, came floating back. And he was standing much closer than she'd anticipated. She felt his arm wrap around her more tightly and she watched him bend down to brush his lips lightly against hers. But rather than watch him pull away, Lisbon decided to move closer herself to kiss him again.

The kiss wasn't long, but she felt it in her knees. And afterwards Lisbon let herself fall into his arms, wrapping her own around his waist.

Jane'd wanted to hold her since he'd first confronted his own stupidity. Now he never wanted to let her go. Reminding himself that the two of them really did need to talk, Jane began to release her, only to feel her hands tighten around his waist. Deciding that talking could wait a few more minutes he slid back into her arms, and felt her answering smile against his neck. "I've missed you Teresa," he whispered against her hair. Feeling her smile widen, he kissed her temple softly.

"You will stay now, right?" Lisbon double-checked. She knew the answer to the question but she needed to hear him say it.

Jane took a breath. Would he _stay?_ Was she kidding? "_God yes,_" he whispered.

Hearing the emotion in his voice Lisbon began to tremble again. "You idiot," she muttered. "You stupid, stupid, idiot."

Jane did break away then, knowing her anger had been a long time coming. "Lisbon, I know that I made a mistake," he started to tell her.

But she interrupted him. "You left _me_ Jane! You were the one who left!"

"I know," he said softly.

"You didn't even send me an e-mail to let me know that you weren't dead in a ditch somewhere!" she snapped. "After everything we'd been through together I had to hear about your new job from Hightower of all people!"

"I'm so sorry..." Jane started.

"Oh, don't apologize!" she replied in irritation. "That's not... I _missed_ you. Of course I did. I certainly don't need you, but you know what Jane? There were days that I really wished I could have talked to you. And don't you dare get all smug about it."

In his defence, Jane looked far more pained than smug, but that didn't seem to pacify Lisbon, who was now on a roll.

"Then you come back," she told him. "And I was pretty sure you still hated me. And then suddenly you didn't. And you confused the hell out of me. And _then, _right before I think you're going to be out the door again the next day, you write me this letter," she said, taking it out of her back pocket. "Which is completely _lovely_ by the way, and you have the nerve to imply that I'm going to throw _you_ out again! That I don't want _you_ to stay..." Lisbon shook her head and started backing up into the other room.

"Don't you know that all you ever had to do was _ask_?" she demanded waving her arms for emphasis. "Don't you..." she paused, attempting to collect herself she wandered further into her living room. Jane following, unable to take his eyes off her. This wasn't exactly what he'd been expecting her to be angry about.

""You stupid, stupid idiot!" she snapped. "_You_ were the one who was angry!" Lisbon accused him. "_I never was_. _I understood!_ Don't you think I understood? Of course I did. It was Red John and it was your family. And _you_ left! I never expected to see you again, but that doesn't mean I didn't want to. You _idiot!_"

Lisbon abruptly found herself in his arms again. "I know," Jane told her. "Well, I know that now. Before, I... I hoped. You have absolutely no idea how much. But I'd been gone a year, and then I was pretty horrible to you when I did come back. I figured you couldn't possibly want me around anymore. That I didn't have the right to expect anything."

"I missed you too, you moron," Lisbon told him softly, snuggling closer. Jane felt her start to tremble again and he tightened his grip. Her body relaxed against his, though he could still hear snatches of other insults being muttered into his vest.

"I don't deserve you," he whispered.

She pulled back, frowning at that. "Jane..." she started.

But he shook his head as he released her, and began to count off his sins on one hand. "Let's look at this objectively shall we?" he asked. "You put up with me for years, always bailing me out of trouble. Then you do one thing I don't like, and I'll admit, it was a _big_ thing, but I bailed on you without even a backwards glance. Then I waltz into your territory a year later without so much as a warning, generally treat you with the barest minimum of professionalism, while being perfectly friendly to everyone else, flirt with another woman in front of you, defy a direct order, almost getting myself and someone else killed, and forcing you to rush in and play superhero yet again." He sighed. "Have I missed anything?"

Lisbon looked at him, "Well, let's see. How about how I felt about any of it? How about that I liked having you around when you finally managed to get over yourself? That I liked that it felt like old times? Yes, I'll always stand by my decision to keep you out of the plan to catch Red John. But I did hurt you Jane. And besides, when you got back, well, I wasn't jealous of your flirting with Lou, not really."

"Not really?" Jane asked, somewhat amused.

"No," Lisbon replied. "I wasn't jealous because you were flirting with her. You flirt with everybody. I'm used to that. I know most of the time it doesn't mean anything, but I was jealous that she got to be friends with you," she whispered.

"Oh, Lisbon," he whispered back, the remorse obvious on his face.

"And I was forced to be the stick in the mud following procedures and protocols while everyone else got to have a bit of fun," she added.

"See, you _should_ be angry with me," Jane told her.

"I don't think I was angry," Lisbon told him. "Not really. I think I was hurt. And I think I even resented my own colleagues for their easy friendship with you." That had stung a bit, she admitted. And if Jane was going to insist on feeling guilty, it may as well be about the things that actually hurt.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better," Jane replied, wrapping an arm around her waist again. "You were always secretly my favourite, even when I didn't want to admit it."

"That does make me feel a little better," she admitted with a grin.

"I was jealous of that idiot Elliot," Jane told him. "Who I could just about kill right now."

"You had no reason to be," Lisbon replied, though the idea made her smile. She might be forgiving, but she was still human.

"You say that now," Jane told her. "But at the time we had no idea how big a creep he really was."

"But I never really liked him all that well," Lisbon explained.

"What?" Jane asked surprised. She hadn't... But he'd been stupid perfect Elliot! Who apparently everybody'd adored, but the one person who mattered. "I thought, the way you were acting..."

Lisbon shrugged, "He seemed nice, and everyone. else seemed to like him, and I thought it might be nice to have someone for a change, so I thought, why not? But something was always just, _off._"

"Well, I'm here now," he offered. "You can have me instead if you like."

"Oh, you're staying," Lisbon informed him. "I've decided."

"You've decided," Jane repeated, not sure whether to be shocked, amused, or just plain happy.

"Yes," Lisbon repeated. "I think past events prove that you've been making terrible decisions lately, so I decided."

Jane stared at her a moment. "Okay," he said finally. He had to admit, it seemed like a _fantastic _decision from his perspective.

Lisbon grinned.

"About Red John," Jane started, tentatively.

"Jane, we don't have to talk about that if you don't want to," Lisbon tried to assure him. "I know it'll probably always be painful."

"Yes we do," Jane insisted. "If we don't get this out in the open now it'll lurk in the background forever."

"Okay," she said nervously.

"I know why you did it," he told her.

"Do you?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied. "You were trying to protect me, and yourself, and you were trying to get the job done. Objectively I always knew that. I just... it hurt that you didn't trust me enough to talk to me first. It hurt that you'd deliberately gone behind my back."

"I didn't want to," Lisbon admitted, looking at the floor. "And I considered telling you. I wanted to trust you Jane, honestly I did. But in the end the risk was too high. What would happen if you snuck out and took matters into your own hands? What if you got killed and Red John escaped? Or what if you killed him and I had to arrest you for murder and put you in jail Jane? I couldn't have dealt with that. I couldn't have put the handcuffs on you and locked you away. That would have broken me. You were my best friend. So I did the only thing I could. Made the only decision I could make. Even though I wished that I didn't have to make it."

Jane stood and began walking around the room. "You hurt me then Lisbon. I'm not going to lie to you. But over the past year, well, I know you might find this hard to believe but I did manage to find some closure. About my family, about the murders, about Red John."

"I'm glad," she told him.

He walked over to her then, and began trailing his fingers around her wrist. "And I think that I've managed to come to terms with what happened, at least a little. Then after what happened a few days ago with Lou, well, I understood why you were worried about what I might do, how I might react. That forced me to look at things from your perspective; I mean really look at them," Jane told her honestly. Then he shrugged. "That's when I realized that I'd forgiven you."

"_Patrick_," she breathed.

"I meant what I said in that letter Teresa," Jane told her. "I have completely and utterly forgiven you, so you're not allowed to feel guilty about Red John anymore. It was the right decision in the end."

"I know," she replied. "But your family..."

"My family's killer was caught by the team I was a part of," he reminded her. "Remember?"

She nodded, not trusting her voice.

Jane ran a hand through her hair. "What did everyone think when I left?" Jane asked after a moment. "God, tell me that they didn't blame you."

Lisbon shook her head. "No, they understood. Both of our perspectives actually. No one was thrilled that you left without saying goodbye, but they knew why."

"They seem to have gotten over it," Jane told her.

"Tolerably well," Lisbon agreed. "I think Cho may have been pining for about a month though."

Jane snorted. "How could you tell?"

"Every so often he'd glance at your couch and his facial expression would _almost_ change," Lisbon replied in a tone of exaggerated seriousness. "But don't worry, Rigsby and Van Pelt supported him through the difficult period."

"I'm so glad," Jane told her with a smile. "I'll have to find a way to make it up to him."

"He likes books," Lisbon supplied helpfully.

"Thank you ever so much," Jane said with a smirk. "I had noticed that actually."

"I'm sure Cho's not expecting anything from you now," Lisbon told him. "In fact, I think he'd probably find it awkward if you did try to have a heart to heart."

"I'm not going to try to have a heart to heart with Cho, Lisbon," Jane said in exasperation. "Can you even imagine?"

Lisbon had to admit that she could not.

"But I have to try and make it up to somebody," Jane told her, pleased when she looped her fingers through his. "Since I'll never be able to make it up to you."

She swatted him, "You don't need to make it up to me Jane. That's what I've been trying to tell you."

"But I'd like to," he told her. "I'd really like to. Come on Lisbon," he wheedled. "There must be something I can do."

Without realizing it, Lisbon paused to consider his offer.

"There!" Jane exclaimed happily. "That! Whatever you're thinking of right now. What is it?"

Lisbon glanced at him sideways, her eyes shy. "Would you make me brownies?" she asked hopefully.

Jane stared at her for a moment before chuckling. "Brownies?" he asked her. "I offer to do basically anything to apologize, and you want _brownies_?"

"But you make the best brownies," Lisbon muttered. "And nobody ever bakes me anything anymore. Never mind. It was stupid..."

"Oh, I'm going to do it," Jane told her candidly. If she'd told him she wanted a three-tiered cake he'd have probably stopped by the library and picked up Pastry Chefs for Dummies. "That was never my point," he added. "You do realize that most women would have me positively grovelling right now while you asked for baked goods?"

"Yeah well, I want brownies," Lisbon told him petulantly.

"Do you know if you even have the ingredients?" Jane asked her, sure he was grinning like an idiot.

"Probably not," Lisbon told him honestly.

Jane nodded to himself. He should have known. "Okay," he told her. "I'm going to check your kitchen to see what you _do_ have, and then I'm going to go to the store and get the rest, alright?"

"Alright," Lisbon replied as she followed him into her kitchen. She watched indulgently as Jane started flipping through her cupboards, muttering under his breath.

"Lisbon, there's dust on your blender!" Jane exclaimed. "It looks like it hasn't been used in a year!"

"It probably hasn't," Lisbon admitted. "I can cook Jane, but I don't bake. That can be your job," she told him cheerfully.

Jane looked up then. "Oh, I see how it is," he told her. "You're keeping me around for my baking skills."

Lisbon nodded happily.

"I'm okay with that," Jane admitted.

A few minutes later (and after much shuffling around in Lisbon's cupboards) Jane turned back towards her. "You actually have more of the ingredients than I thought you would," he admitted. "I'll be back in about twenty minutes. Do you need anything else at the grocery store," he asked her walking towards the door.

Lisbon trailed after him, "Don't think so," she told him, leaning beside the door.

"You are going to let me back in here when I get back right?" Jane asked playfully.

Lisbon knew he meant it as a joke, but she thought she saw a hint of worry behind the twinkle in his eyes. She frowned briefly. Idiot. Taking his face in her hands, she kissed him firmly.

"So that's a yes then?" Jane asked when she broke away.

Lisbon grinned, and kissed him again.

Jane wrapped his arms around her again, deciding he could really get used to this.

"I could make you dinner too if you'd like," he promised hopefully when she moved away again.

Lisbon laughed and kissed him again, on the cheek this time. "I thought we could order in, that Thai place we used to get stuff from all the time," she told him. "You can make dinner for me another night if you want," she promised. "Now go."

When he was gone Lisbon glanced around her apartment almost giddy. Sure, her afternoon hadn't exactly started out ideally, what with Cho walking into her office and telling her a man that she'd gone out to dinner with was quite possibly a criminal. However, there'd been a definite upswing since then. Speaking of potential criminals, she wondered how her team was getting on.

Van Pelt wouldn't tell her anything if Lisbon called her, but one of the other two would probably be easier to get information from. She dialled a familiar number.

"Cho," she heard on the other end of the line.

"Hi, it's me," Lisbon told him.

"Aren't you supposed to be taking the afternoon off?" Cho asked her.

"I am," Lisbon insisted. "I was just wondering if you guys found anything."

"Van Pelt told you we'd call you if we found something," Cho reminded her. "Have we called you?"

"No," Lisbon admitted slowly.

"Then you can assume we haven't found anything," Cho told her. "Relax Lisbon. And have a nice afternoon." With that he hung up.

Lisbon stared at her phone in surprise. Then she shrugged. At least Cho was succinct. And she wouldn't have to feel at all guilty about enjoying Jane's brownies if nothing was going on at the office. And they did have the rest of the afternoon. Maybe Jane would watch a movie with her.

xxxxx

Lisbon watched as Jane took the brownies from the oven. "Are my brownies ready?" she asked him hopefully.

"Just about," he told her. "You do know that you have to let them cool right?"

Lisbon rolled her eyes.

"I was just checking," Jane muttered. "There is something that we've avoided talking about this afternoon."

"What's that?" Lisbon asked, her stomach clenching a bit at his tone.

"Hightower," Jane replied. "Apparently you have no problem taking me on again, but she might," he reminded her.

Lisbon waved that off, her sense of dread lessening. "Hightower loves you," she told him truthfully.

"Well, she used to," Jane admitted. "Maybe not so much anymore."

"Because of what happened to Lou?" Lisbon asked. "Don't worry about that, she wasn't too upset. And besides, she's on another one of her campaigns to raise the profile of the CBI. If anything you're more famous after your year of freelancing than before, at least in-state. Just play that up and you'll be fine. Especially since I'll tell her I'm all for the idea," Lisbon added.

Jane smiled, "You've decided how this is going to go already, haven't you."

"I have," Lisbon told him. "Like I said, I'm making the important decisions for a while. Even you admit that your decisions lately have been suspect. And I've decided everything'll be fine."

"And if it's not?" Jane asked, as he started cutting up the brownies.

"Then I guess you'll just have to hypnotize her," Lisbon told him with a shrug.

Jane almost dropped the knife as he whipped around to look at her. "You're not serious?"

"And if I am?" Lisbon asked. "It's a last resort," she said defensively.

"Who are you and what have you done with Teresa Lisbon?" Jane demanded.

"I told you," Lisbon repeated. "You're staying." And she wasn't going to let Hightower screw this up for her. Not this. Lisbon was finally getting something _she _wanted. Hightower would have to deal with that. Besides, Lisbon really wasn't anticipating it being a problem.

Jane stared at her for a long moment. She looked... determined. She really had quite simply decided that he was staying, and he suspected there was nothing that anyone, even him, could do about it. Not that he wanted to do anything about it. He loved it when her stubbornness worked in his favour. Maybe, maybe everything really would be alright. "Okay," Jane said finally, as he set the plate of brownies in front of her. "Hypnotism as a last resort."

"What about the trust thing?" Lisbon asked him.

He sighed; he should have known that would come up eventually as well. "Lisbon, I trust you," he told her. "Like I said, I was angry. But I do."

"Okay," she agreed.

"But you don't trust me," Jane surmised.

"I honestly don't know," she admitted. "I want to. I used to trust you when it came to pretty much anything but Red John," she told him. "And I trust that you'd never intentionally put me in danger or hurt me. But I need you to promise me that you'll really try never do anything as stupidly dangerous as you did a few days ago."

"Done," Jane told her. "I promise to try."

"As for the rest," Lisbon shrugged. "I can't tell you that I trust you as much as I did before you left," she told him. "Because you did leave. But I promise to try to. I will try Patrick," she repeated. "I just don't know how long it'll take, but I want to trust you. I just, I have trouble with that... I don't know if that's enough or..."

He took her hand, and kissed the back of it. "It's more than I was ever expecting Teresa," he admitted. Then he carried the plate of brownies over to the coffee table, before flopping down on the couch.

"You're sure you can trust me?" she double-checked as she sat next to him. "After I..."

"I'm sure," he told her seriously. "If it had been about anything else would you have kept it from me?"

"No," she admitted.

"See now," he told her with a shrug. "I'm not going to change overnight Teresa," he said suddenly. "I'm still me. And I'm sure I'll be getting you into trouble all the time. Are you absolutely sure that..."

"I'm sure," she interrupted. "I wasn't expecting a major transformation. I know my paperwork will triple again. I'm anticipating the complaints. I was never under any illusions that you'd be a totally different Patrick Jane," she assured him. "I don't think I'd ever want that. It wouldn't be nearly as fun. And I'm still going to yell at you when you screw up you know."

"I'm looking forward to it," Jane admitted.

"Are you sure _you_ won't miss freelancing?" Lisbon asked him as she took a brownie. "Like you said, there is less paperwork, less protocol, and fewer rules than the CBI."

"Please, I think we can both agree that I could probably use a few rules," he told her. "Much as I'll still probably try and bend or break them daily."

"Well, I'd imagine that freelancing also pays better," Lisbon pointed out.

"Come on Lisbon, if it was just about the money we both know I could go to Vegas and win the equivalent of my current yearly salary at the poker tables in about a day. I don't give a damn about the money or the publicity, though that can sometimes be fun. I miss drinking tea in your office at midnight while you finish your paperwork and I stare at the ceiling going over things in my mind. I hate having to work with a new law enforcement professional every week. And none of them are ever as good as you. I hate having to convince them to let me work. They never understand. You understand. Sometimes you get mad, or you don't let me do what I want, but you always try. And I miss the team. I miss having people around who know me. I miss arguing with you, and how frustrated you get every time I do something insane. I miss having some who fights for me, someone who's sympathetic when I get punched in the nose, unless you're the one doing the punching. I miss your eyes Lisbon. Hell, I even miss the abuse. Basically I just miss you."

"_Oh God_," she muttered.

"I told you a lot of that in the letter," he reminded her. "Maybe not in quite so much detail."

"I know, but hearing it," she choked out. "It's different." And it was, especially when it was something you'd always wanted to hear, but never actually expected to.

"Then maybe you should brace yourself for this one," he murmured. He crouched in front of her on the couch. "I think I may be in love with you Teresa."

She stared at him, eyes wide for a moment. Then Jane felt her tugging him towards her by his lapels. When he felt her hands running through his hair as she kissed him, Jane figured he must have done a _really_ good job with those brownies.

"Jane I..." she told him as she broke away. He was surprised to see that she was shaking a bit again. He grabbed a throw from the back of the couch and wrapped it around her.

"Shh..." he told her. "You don't need to say anything, I know it's probably sudden, but I... I needed to tell you."

She shook her head violently. "It's not that," she told him. "It's not... You don't understand."

"Lisbon," he told her. "You can..."

"I used to have these thoughts occasionally, especially towards the end of our partnership" she blurted out. "Like that time you kidnapped me and took me to the beach for my birthday, or once when you built a fort with the victim's kids once on a case, or sometimes when I found you asleep in my office at like nine at night after I had a late meeting, or sometimes just for no reason at all, because you were smiling at me, or trying to play some sort of stupid game. And I was attracted to you," she muttered into his shoulder, and she felt his breath catch. She ran her hand across his chest in random patterns. "But I buried it deep. I had to. I mean, there was Red John, and it was probably inappropriate. We could be friends. That was safe, but anything else..." She trailed off and took another breath. "Anything else was too dangerous for both of us. It could have destroyed what we did have. But I used to have these passing hopes that maybe... maybe _after_. But then you left. So I figured it wasn't going to happen. And I pushed it all back down, pretended it hadn't ever existed. And then you came back. But I figured there was no way you'd want to stay. And I couldn't ask you, because if you said _no. _I couldn't hear that. And then to read that letter and hear all that," she told him. "It's a bit overwhelming."

Jane tipped her face back up to his. He began placing kisses along her jaw line. "So you're attracted to me are you?" he asked his voice husky.

Lisbon shivered. "_God yes_," she hissed. Oh if she'd known he could do what he was doing she'd have tied him down long ago. He was definitely staying now.

Jane moved his lips across her throat, enjoying the way she sighed in approval. God the woman tasted good. "Well that's awfully convenient," he told her. "Because I can assure you the feeling is very mutual," he murmured before kissing where her throat met her shoulder.

"Jane," she whimpered.

"Patrick," he corrected.

"Patrick," she repeated.

"Hm, yes Teresa?" he asked as he kissed his way down her collar bone.

"I'm not sure if this is the best time to mention this," she said as she ran her hands over his shoulders. "But I think I might be in love with you too."

Much to Lisbon's disappointment Jane abruptly stopped what he was doing. She opened her eyes (though she didn't remember closing them) to see him leaning over her, quite simply staring. The man looked completely and utterly gobsmacked.

Lisbon bit her lip to try and control her grin. But it was no use. Which was okay, because soon they were both grinning like fools. Giggling, Lisbon threw her arms around his neck.

"You should have seen your face," she told him.

"Well, I was surprised," he replied candidly.

"I don't know why," she remarked dryly.

"You know how you mentioned things you never ever expected to actually _hear_," he said. "I know why I love you. That's obvious. I'm not entirely sure why you love me."

She paused before answering honestly, "You let me have fun," she whispered.

Jane leaned his forehead against hers. "Okay," he said softly.

"So now what?" she asked.

"We'll work it out Lisbon," he told her. "I'm sure we can make this work."

"And what is this exactly?" she asked him tentatively.

"I guess we never actually discussed that did we?" Jane asked.

"Nope," Lisbon confirmed.

Jane laughed softly. "Well, I don't know about you," he told her. "But I'd like to try a relationship. What do you think?"

She smirked. "I guess I'd be okay with that."

"Is this going to be a problem with Hightower?" he asked her suddenly, his expression grave.

Lisbon paused. "I don't know," she admitted. "I can't remember exactly what the fraternization policy is with consultants. I don't think it'll be a problem though."

"You don't know?" Jane repeated surprised.

"Despite what you may think Patrick Jane," she told him. "I don't have the CBI rule book memorized. That's Cho."

"I... wait a minute," Jane said. "Cho has the CBI handbook memorized?"

"He used to at least," Lisbon told him. "I was never sure exactly why."

"You really think it'll be okay?" Jane asked again. "Because I don't want to lose you."

She grinned. "I do. And if it's not, you'll just have to make it one of the conditions of your return," she told him.

"And if that doesn't work I suppose we fall back on hypnosis?" he double-checked.

"Exactly," Lisbon told him with a nodd.

"Okay," Jane agreed.

"Jane?" she asked, after a moment.

"Yes dear?"

"Do you want to watch a movie?"

"I'd love to," he said softly. "But let's order that Thai food first."

xxxxx

TBC

Alright, I really tried not to make it too corny. Fingers crossed that it worked out. Epilogue up tomorrow.


	14. Epilogue

A/N: Because I always wanted to see people's reactions at the end of Persuasion (the book). I mean, they tell you Sir. Walter's and Elizabeth's but nobody cares about them. I wrote the ones I care about.

Also, thank you to all the lovely reviewers, both those of you who have read the book and talked to me about the comparisons and how I was doing, and those of you who hadn't and kept sending me lovely things like "Who is this Elliot? I don't quite trust him for some reason." Because that made me happy. This is the end. I hope everyone enjoys.

xxxxx

Epilogue

xxxxx

The next day was a flurry of activity. Both Van Pelt's ID number and Hightower's contacts came through on the Jenkins' case. By mid-afternoon Agent Teresa Lisbon had the supreme satisfaction of clapping a pair of handcuffs around Special Agent Bill Elliot's wrists while Cho emotionlessly read the man his rights.

Lisbon couldn't resist a smirk at his expense. The combination of shock and anger on his face was irresistible. But he'd been amassing blackmail material for years. His getting caught at some point was almost inevitable. No one felt much sympathy for him.

Jane of course looked positively gleeful. Somehow she couldn't quite bring herself to reprimand him for it.

Then there was the inevitable press coverage, which Lisbon tried to keep to a minimum, and stay out of as much as possible. Still, she said the appropriate things and Jane didn't say anything to annoy anyone. In the end Hightower was happy.

The rest of Lisbon's afternoon was spent in meetings, with Hightower, with the D.A., with a representative from the Secret Service. Everyone agreed that the case was pretty rock solid, but with a case like this one everyone also wanted to triple check that everything was done right.

Her day had been so busy that Lisbon had barely had a moment to herself, let alone a moment to spend with Jane. When she left the office to get ready for dinner he was in a meeting with Hightower. Lisbon knew what they were talking about of course. She'd already informed Hightower of her own readiness to take back her consultant. Hightower had been surprised by the idea, but not against it. Lisbon figured she and Jane were discussing the details. Jane'd promised to meet her at the restaurant with the others.

xxxxx

Lisbon got into her apartment just in time to answer her phone. "Lisbon," she said.

"Congratulations Teresa. I heard you made an arrest today," Minelli told her.

"Yeah," she said with a smile, pride rising in her chest at her mentor's praise. "We did. It was a good day."

Minelli paused, "I hope that personally it wasn't too..."

"Oh, no," Lisbon assured him. "Turns out I didn't actually like Agent Elliot all that much for a good reason."

"Well, good. I'm glad," Minelli said gruffly. "Still, I suppose this means Jane's moving on his way again," he added.

Lisbon paused, "Um, yeah, about that..."

Minelli sighed. "I knew it," he said in resignation. "Please tell me he at least had the courtesy to ask you if it was okay with you this time."

"Oh, he did," Lisbon said with a grin.

Minelli paused when he heard the obvious satisfaction in her voice. "And you're sure you're okay with having him back on your team?" he asked.

"I am," she confirmed.

"Lisbon I know you two were friends and all, and you know that I liked Jane as much as the next person who had to work with him, but are you really sure?" Minelli asked again. He just hoped she wasn't doing this because she felt obligated or something. Lisbon's tendencies to care for strays were well-known.

"I'm sure," she told him. "I could always deal with Jane, most of the time at least."

"Even after the last year? Do you really think that the two of you can work..."

"He apologized," Lisbon said softly.

"What?" Minelli asked, surprised by that. "_Patrick Jane_ actually apologized to you?"

"Yes," she confirmed.

"Sincerely?" he double-checked.

"Oh yes," Lisbon grinned. "He misses the team a quite a bit apparently."

Minelli paused, finally connecting the dots. "He's not just coming back for the CBI is he?"

"No," she admitted.

"Teresa," Minelli said softly. Not sure what to say.

"I'm happy," she replied just as softly.

Minelli paused. That really was all that he'd wanted for her. And Jane wasn't really a bad guy after all. Especially if he was prepared to make amends. "I suppose this means he'll be joining us at some of our dinners," Minelli told her.

"Not necessarily," Lisbon said with a grin.

"Hmph." was Minelli's response. "You're absolutely sure?" he couldn't help double-checking.

"Yes," she replied.

"Fine, but if he screws up again I'm shooting him myself," Minelli told her. "You tell him that Lisbon. Tell him I will find him and I will show up at his door and I will have a gun, which I will know how to use. I'm serious. I will shoot him Teresa. Unless you've already shot him of course, in which case I will obviously help you dispose of the body."

"I'll pass that along sir," she told him. "And thank you." She'd known Minelli would come around. She'd never been worried about that. Virgil'd always been all bluster.

"Well now I'm really surprised I didn't hear stories about Jane tormenting Elliot," Minelli admitted. "Maybe he has learned a little restraint."

Lisbon smirked. "Obviously I wouldn't know for sure, what with my duty to the law and all," she said. "But I almost thought I saw Jane steal Elliot's wallet after he was arrested and then accidentally drop it in a garbage can. Of course that may have been a trick of the light," she added.

"Of course," Minelli said. "And when did this trick of the light occur?"

"Right before Rigsby accidentally tripped and Elliot fell into a wall," Lisbon admitted.

"I see," Minelli said dryly. "You always did have good people," he told her.

"Yeah," she agreed.

"I'm glad you're happy Teresa," he told her suddenly.

Lisbon wasn't sure what to say.

"And I guess if you wanted to bring Jane on Wednesday that would be okay," he added.

"You don't have to..." she started, surprised by pleased by the offer..

"Well, Mary wants to meet him anyway. Always sees him on TV and thinks he looks perfectly charming. 'Course she's never met him," Minelli muttered.

"Of course," Lisbon said smiling indulgently. "I'll ask him. For Mary's benefit of course. And thank you."

"Yes well," Minelli said. "I should probably let you go, I'm sure you have things to do."

"Yes sir," she told him. "Thanks for the call."

"Congratulations on the case Teresa," he said again. "Really. And remind that lunatic that I'm keeping an eye on him."

"And that you have a gun," Lisbon added. "Got it sir. I'll see you on Wednesday."

"Goodbye Teresa," Minelli replied.

xxxxx

Lisbon arrived at the restaurant just after the rest of her team. Sophie and Harry were already there. It turned out they were just waiting for Jane so the group decided they may as well get a table. Somehow Lisbon managed to ensure that one of the seats next to her was empty. She wasn't sure exactly how, though she suspected part of it was thanks to Sophie's help. Jane's friend promptly sat on her other side.

"You look like you're in a good mood today Agent Lisbon," Sophie told her.

"Please," Lisbon said, "Call me Teresa." She had a feeling that she and the other woman would be seeing a fair bit of each other after all.

"Alright," Sophie told her. "But whatever I call you, you're still in a good mood."

Lisbon shrugged, "We closed the case, caught a bad guy. That's always cause for celebration," she said.

"Yeah, and this definitely beats closed case pizza," Rigsby added from across the table.

"That it does," Lisbon agreed.

"And is Patrick in a good mood as well?" Sophie asked. "Is he pleased that you've solved your case?"

Lisbon paused, momentarily suspicious. The other woman was clearly leading somewhere, and Lisbon could probably make a guess as to where that was, but she had no idea what the woman knew, or thought she knew. "He seemed to be," Lisbon told the other woman honestly. "But whether he still will be after a meeting with Hightower is anybody's guess."

"Wonder if he'll be happy to be on the road again," Harry mused. "After all, his job means that he travels fairly constantly. Must have been nice to touch base with some old friends."

Lisbon noticed that the smiles slid off Rigsby and Van Pelt's faces at that. Lisbon took a drink of her water to conceal her own grin.

"Wonder if Pat'll ever settle down again," Harry continued. "I mean, even those of us filled with wanderlust in our youth can settle down when we're older. Like yours truly," he added. "But after what happened to him the last time he tried, I don't know if Pat ever will choose a permanent home base."

"Oh, I don't know," Sophie mused, shooting a glance towards Lisbon, knowing full well the Agent knew a lot more about the subject than she was saying. "I think one day he might surprise you."

"Sophie always was an old romantic," Harry told Lisbon conspiratorially.

"Hey, it's not a bad thing to be all things considered," Lisbon pointed out.

"No, I suppose not," he agreed.

"Lisbon, don't you know what Jane's doing?" Van Pelt asked.

"Not exactly," Lisbon answered evasively.

"Yeah, why does Jane have to meet with Hightower anyway?" Rigsby asked suddenly.

Lisbon shrugged again. "Like I said, you'd have to ask him that," she told the other agent.

"But you know," Cho added. It was a statement, not a question.

"Of course she does," Jane agreed as he walked up to the group. "Hello all," he said. "Sorry I'm late." Then he sent Lisbon a quick nod and a wink. She let out a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding.

He kissed Sophie on the cheek, shook hands with Harry, nodded at the team, and gently squeezed Lisbon's shoulder.

"Okay, I'll ask," Rigsby said in exasperation. "What was your meeting with Hightower about Jane?"

"We were discussing my return to the team," he told them blithely.

"What?" Van Pelt cried in shock.

Rigsby appeared frozen in surprise and Cho was grinning.

Lisbon laughed before she could help it.

"You knew!" Van Pelt accused her.

"It knew what the meeting was about," she corrected. "I didn't know what Hightower would say, and we both thought it would be better not to tell you in case..."

"In case Hightower gave me the old heave ho," Jane filled in cheerfully. "She didn't of course. You were right," he told Lisbon. "Seemed positively thrilled by the idea. Though apparently under no circumstances am I ever to speak to the press without advance permission or supervision," he added, reciting Hightower's exact words.

"Can't imagine why," Cho said dryly.

"She even agreed to my condition," Jane continued on as though the Asian agent hadn't spoken. "Although as it turned out it wasn't even an issue," he told Lisbon. "You were right again."

"Yeah, I thought maybe, but I wasn't sure," she replied with a grin.

"And what was the condition?" asked Rigsby, because he knew it was expected of him.

"That as a consultant I be exempt from the anti-fraternization rule," Jane replied, kissing Lisbon's hand. "She almost looked surprised by the question. I wish you could have seen it Teresa."

You could have heard a pin drop at the table.

"_I knew it!_" Van Pelt said suddenly. "Pay up," she said holding her hand open for Rigsby.

"Oh man," Jane told him. "You're losing bets to Van Pelt now on top of everyone else?"

Rigsby stuttered, "Well, how was I supposed to know... we made that bet years ago!"

This time it was Lisbon's turn to be shocked. "What?" she asked.

"Oh yeah," Cho told her.

"You weren't even in on it," Rigsby muttered to his friend.

"Good thing too," Cho told him. "Otherwise you'd be giving me money as well."

"Should we be concerned that they knew potentially before we did?" Jane asked Lisbon.

She shrugged. "Maybe. Though wouldn't the bet have been dissolved after Jane left?"

"We decided that if Jane wasn't back in two years, that Rigsby won," Van Pelt told her. "But we all figured it was only a matter of time before his curiosity got the better of him and he was back."

"Then as soon as we saw you two together it was obvious," Cho added.

Lisbon looked shocked at that.

"Hey, if I'd known there was a bet going I would have put down twenty on the pair of you as well," Sophie told her.

Jane raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Would you now?"

"It was obvious the second you walked into that restaurant two days ago," she told him. "She makes you happy."

"Well that's true," Jane agreed.

"I told you she was good for you then too," Sophie told him.

"And I believe I agreed," Jane replied. "Though I'm not sure you heard me."

"I got the gist of it," Sophie replied. She turned to Lisbon, "You've got your work cut out for you with this one," she told her.

"I know," Lisbon agreed. "But at least it'll never be boring."

Sophie laughed. "Let me know if you need any help."

"I'll do that," Lisbon told her.

Suddenly Harry punched Jane in the shoulder.

"Ow!" he said. "What was that for?"

"A conversation I had yesterday that makes a lot more sense now," Harry replied. "And there'll be a lot more with it too if I hear anything like it again," he told his friend.

Jane rubbed his shoulder. "Fair enough," he told him. "That hurt you know. You hit almost as hard as Lisbon."

"Oh speaking of pain," Lisbon added as an aside to Jane, while the others got into a loud argument about exactly when everybody else at the table had known something was up. "Minelli wanted me to tell you that he's keeping an eye on you and he has a gun."

"Well isn't that friendly of Virgil," Jane replied.

"He did ask you to dinner on Wednesday," Lisbon told him.

"Why? So he can shoot me at close range?" Jane wondered.

Lisbon smirked. "I didn't ask."

"He does know that if I ever do screw up massively, you'll probably just shoot me first, right?" Jane couldn't help pointing out.

"In which case he offered to hide the body," Lisbon told him pleasantly.

Jane considered that. "Well, given that you're like a daughter to him that seems only fair. What time on Wednesday?"

"Six-thirty," Lisbon replied.

"I'll be there," Jane promised.

When the happy chatter died down, Lisbon turned to her team. "Seriously now, are you guys okay with this?" she asked. "Because you'll have to work with me and Jane and I don't want you feeling uncomfortable or..."

"Lisbon," Van Pelt interrupted her. "Don't be an idiot. We think it's great."

Lisbon grinned softly, "You sure?"

The other three nodded.

"Okay," she said. "But I want you to know that you can come to me, if..."

"Boss," Cho told her. "Seriously, shut up. It's fine."

"We know you," Rigsby told her. "You'll be professional. Well, as much as Jane will let you be, but I seriously doubt that'd change whether you were dating or not."

"Well that's true," Lisbon agreed.

"And Jane won't be professional either way," Cho added.

"It's fine," Van Pelt told her again. "Stop worrying."

"See Teresa, you can relax," Jane told her. "And like Grace said, stop being an idiot. After all," he added cheerfully. "That's my job, remember?"

Lisbon let herself lean back against his shoulder contentedly. Maybe she really should stop worrying. After the last couple of years she'd earned it. They both had.

Maybe, for once in her life, she should just let herself be happy.

xxxxx

The end

And that's it. It's done. Which makes me kind of sad, but what can you do? I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing.


End file.
